Lily in the Maelstrom
by amillefleur
Summary: There are old memories in her head, a fake bloodline in her veins, and a friend destined to be a Hokage. Oniyuri is old, older than anyone alive, but her body is young. There's nothing but hell on the horizon if she doesn't act, and there's no way she's allowing that to happen. SI, gen
1. 1 - Ritual Chapter 1

Suiei Hanabi took in a deep breath and released it, her brush pausing and flowing in time with her lungs. Slowly, but surely, her last name grew beneath the fine hairs of the brush; 水泳. It was a simple last name, with no double meanings nor be tracked down to ancient times. It was relatively modern compared to the clan names dominating the Elemental Lands. All it meant was: _water_.

(Yet it meant so much _more._ )

There was a space below the two kanji, enough space for at least three characters. It was ready for a new name, but her name – 花火, _fireworks_ , or, _fire flower_ – was not the one to be written there. Hanabi didn't know what would be written there in a few hours. Only time would tell.

The reminder of this evening's oncoming events draws her attention to the baby resting in the corner of the room. She wasn't even thirty days old, and yet tomorrow she could be older than Hanabi herself. It was the rite of the Suiei Clan, and every baby had to attend it, on the next full moon after their birth.

It was the only "bloodline" the Suiei Clan had, but it had the potential to be more powerful than the Uchiha's Sharagin or the Hyuuga's Bakugan.

As the tradition of the rite, her baby wasn't named yet. When addressed, it was always "Hanabi's baby," or "your baby." Only after the full moon would the baby be crowned with their own name, hand-picked and chosen by the baby itself, as per the ritual.

The last half-an-hour before the sunset disappeared from the horizon Hanabi spent treating her baby like a baby should be treated. She let it grasp her fingers in a weak grip, she sat her up and bounced her baby on her knee. This could very well be the last time she could get away with this.

She wasn't a true sensor, but she could feel chakra just a little bit. Already her baby's mental chakra is larger than her physical, probably from centuries of ancestors with gigantic mental chakra.

The baby fell asleep, and so Hanabi was left to watch the orange, red and pink drain out of the sky until nothing was left except the deep blue of the night, speckled with tiny stars. Above, the great full moon glowed in between the clouds that were scattered across the sky.

The gong sounded twice. Once for each baby that was beginning their rite.

Silently, Hanabi rose, her baby carefully balanced in her arms and exited her house, wooden beams creaking as she strode across her veranda. The boat houses they had rented out for tonight were connected through an intricate system of jetties and piers. To combat the rising tide, all things wooden were attached to tall wooden poles so they could float up and down in time with the ocean.

Tonight, the sea was lapping at the boardwalk, and occasionally the sea slapped against the wood, sending a little spout of water up between the logs. Thankfully, even with the clouds dotting the sky, it wasn't raining. Hanabi knew that come hail or fire, her baby was going to go through the Suiei birth ritual.

Her clan mates silently exited their houses, trailing all around her, all walking with minimal talk, towards the house that was chosen to hold the ritual.

Despite the significance of the ritual, the clan head didn't demand every member to attend. Furthermore, only those of Suiei blood could be present when the ritual commenced. Those who were brought from the outside couldn't.

The house was packed, and yet Hanabi could move freely. She knew from past experiences that her mobility was only because of the baby she held in her arms. Finally, the crowd settled, a silence casting over the group, only broken by a few whispers.

The crowd had gathered around the circle of some twelve members, about half a metre behind them. In the centre of the circle – a circle that took up most of the house. There was a reason why this house was chosen, and it wasn't only because it had an open top – stood the clan head.

She was a demanding presence, despite the hijab covering most of her masculine face. Suiei Kiku stood proud and tall, wearing the clothes of the clan head with dignity. Her past wasn't really well known, but it was there to ask for those who wanted to know. Apparently, she was an Arabic prince, although that was only the rumours Hanabi, unfortunately, overheard from the younger members.

"Welcome to this year's fourth Full Moon ritual." The first words she spoke weren't formally part of the ritual, but the small conversations taking place around the room grounded to a halt. "For this April, we are welcoming two new members into our ranks." She turns to face Hanabi and the woman beside her.

"Hanabi, Asagao," Kiku nods, addressing them quietly. "Thank you for your brave journey of pregnancy. I know myself could never survive through it, and I thank you for your courage." The rest of the clan bowed at once. Mothers were honoured in the Suiei Clan for bringing life to the world. Hanabi took a deep breath and braced herself for the next step.

"Do you have a preference to who goes first?" Kiku asks, looking at the two mothers in the eye. Hanabi didn't really know the other women, only seeing her around occasionally. The Suiei clan wasn't large, but it wasn't _small_ either.

"I would prefer to go last," the woman asks, dipping her head at the clan head. Kiku turns to Hanabi, the silent question reaching between them.

"I don't mind," Hanabi admits. She knew that this ritual was coming, and Hanabi had to face the truth; she wasn't suited to mothering. Maybe, ten months ago, she thought she could change her mind. But she knew how, after two weeks of babysitting, that it just wasn't in her bones.

"Thank you Hanabi," Kiku bows, and Hanabi's child (not anymore, she reminds herself) is gently taken from her arms to rest in Kiku's arms. Thankfully, the baby doesn't awaken. There had been too many times when the ritual had to be carried out with a screaming baby. It wasn't fun.

Hanabi retreats from the circle, joining the rest of the clan. The circle closes again once _ follows Hanabi through. Once she and the other women made themselves comfortable on the wooden floor (Hanabi was slightly thankful that the houses were always slightly higher than the ocean level, so no water could seep through the cracks) Kiku rises from the little cradle sitting in the middle of the circle.

Everyone in this room had been placed in that cradle when they went through the ritual. It was worn from years of use, but the seals that were carefully inked on nearly every surface had not faded with time. Kiku raises her head to stare at the full moon above them, everyone but the twelve helpers kept their heads down.

"Great Rabbit Goddess," Kiku addresses, and Hanabi swears, like all rituals she's attended, that it glows brighter with the three words. "Time has proceeded until it is that time again. We ask our same question, asked since you have taught us, thousands of years ago."

Here the twelve members that help with the ceremony start to gather their chakra, letting it gather around the cradle, the seals slowly gathering brilliance and power.

"It is our honour to accept your chakra and break the barrier." Here, Kiku rattles off several lines, all in different languages. Hanabi only could understand two sentences, one in Italian and the other in French. While it varied from language to language, it was all prayers towards the clan's goddess.

"May the great Kaguya bless this new child, and give them their old memories back."

Hanabi has attended this ritual since her own. She's seen it from every angle. She's even been one of the twelve pouring their chakra into the seals to contain the chakra to just the cradle. But it still happens.

The moon _drips_. It's only a small drop, barely seen, no larger than a normal rain drop, but it's _still there._ It lands on the baby's forehead – like it always does – and vanishes into the baby's soul.

Kiku forms a few hand seals, which was more of a formality than a true jutsu. The air is thick with chakra, but it shatters once the barrier is broken, and the baby recalls its past life.

(Hanabi can still recall her ritual. Waking up in a cradle with strangers and something humming in the air. She used to be named Kirsten then.)

There is a moment of silence for the baby – now mentally older than its body – to gain its bearing.

Finally, Kiku leans forward, just enough to catch the baby's attention.

"Welcome new one. You have been reborn, and this is your new clan." Kiku says in Japanese. It isn't the language of the land, but it resembles it to almost be called Japanese. Then, Kiku repeats it in English. In French. She marches through various languages, some that don't sound like a language, but a groan in the back of her throat. Apparently, it was an alien language.

"Do you understand me?" Kiku asks in Japanese. The baby nods. "That's a good place to start." It was mostly a hit and miss with the languages. There were still some people who knew languages that nobody else knew.

"It is my honour to meet you. I welcome you to the Suiei Clan, and hope that you find yourself at home." Kiku bows. "As is tradition, you are turning over a new leaf. You will be given a new name, to signify your new beginning. It is a custom that all names have 花, or something pertaining to flower. Hanabi, do you have any ideas?" Normally, Kiku wouldn't have asked this, but Hanabi was wedded to an outsider. The Suiei Clan was accepting towards their name suggestions, as long as they had 'hana' in it.

Hanabi took a deep breath and says the name the father has told her before he left. She watches as the baby twist its head slightly to her direction, no doubt wondering about the voice coming from the darkness.

"Do you wish to take this name?" Kiku asks the baby. It nods, little mouth working as it either trying to say something or trying out the name.

"Welcome to the clan." Kiku smiles and gently slides her hands under its shoulders, approaching the edge of the circle. "This is your caretaker until you can be independent. Hanabi is the one who gave life to your new form. Please treat her with the uttermost respect."

Hanabi takes her baby – no longer that, not since the Rabbit Goddess gave the blessing – and carefully sits it on her hip as she rises, taking it outside. Already her young body was yawning, great big mouth leaving wet patches against her shirt. She was already used to that from the two weeks since her birth, but she also remembered not being able to control their own body after the ritual and for many months.

Her mental chakra was skyrocketing as it compensated for the sudden increase of memories, wisdom, and intelligence beyond any baby should have. Already it was approaching the level Hanabi had herself when her memories had been unlocked.

Hanabi takes them back to the house that was set aside for them. Other members came outside to learn the baby's name and to welcome them. Those who were brought from the outside treat the baby like it was its physical age, despite the explanation of what the ritual did, handed to them upon their entrance to the clan.

Finally, Hanabi makes it back home, just in time to see the moon _drip_ again, at that house far away. She couldn't see the drop, it was hard enough to see at the ritual, but she had seen it enough to predict it anyway. Hanabi lies the newest addition to her clan and her household into the little cradle in the corner of the room. It could take anywhere from a few months to a few years before newborns could leave their caretakers.

Hanabi returns to the scroll with the clan name neatly printed at the top. She brings out the brush and the ink, letting her relax in the preparation. Finally, she draws the last few kanji into the empty space. There was a reason why she left enough space for three kanji.

水泳 鬼百合.

Suiei Oniyuri.

* * *

 **A little word... (A/N)**

Hello! I'm Amy. Thanks for reading. I'm just popping in to say that I have another story I'm also writing. I'm hoping to update both of them once a month. Thanks for reading!

Question: Do you think that the summery is good?


	2. 1 - Ritual Chapter 2

Oniyuri carefully curled her fingers around the target and tightened her hold, gingerly rising it. The cup wobbles in her hands, the tiny muscles in her arms straining. The bottom of the cup barely got off the table before a large hand comes and tugs it out of her hands.

"Oniyuri-sama, you should not stress your muscles so much." She scowls at the words, slowly raising her head to watch her caretaker, Hanabi, take the cup over to the kitchen and empty it, placing it in the pile of dirty plates.

True to her word, Oniyuri's muscles were already burning from the exercise. It was only two weeks ago the Suiei's birth ritual was performed on her, and the baby's body just wasn't ready for extreme exercise. The motor skills were equally poor, so the most she had done in this state was keep her head up. Even now, Oniyuri needed a backrest to prop herself up.

"Are you ready for the introduction?" Hanabi asks, sitting down next to Oniyuri, slowly offering a spoon with unidentifiable liquid substance. The spoon slides into her mouth and Oniyuri carefully shut her mouth around the spoon and sucks it down. She had finally mastered the art of swallowing without dropping half of it down the front of her shirt just yesterday.

"Y-Y-" Hanabi smiles and offers another spoonful of milk. Oniyuri sits in silence as Hanabi goes over the facts that she had repeated every night before bed.

Half of it was simple things about her new body. To improve speech, it was recommended that newcomers should repeat the hiragana table out loud as many times as possible, because normal babies babble at night, repeating all the sounds they heard during the day.

Due to prior knowledge, Suiei clans tend to pass milestones far sooner. The average time between the ritual and the ability to do exercise greater than sitting up and first word marked around a month or two, and it took about a half a year for new members achieve satisfactory mobility.

Another thing was information about the Suiei Clan. They lived in the Elemental Nations, a land where _ninjas_ lived. They used chakra to fight each other, but the Suiei Clan was a civilian clan. Because of how they earned their money – how, what, and why was still a mystery to Oniyuri – they travelled all around the country.

"We have darker skin because our clan originates from Lightning. Yours is slightly lighter because I met your father in Fire." Hanabi explains, holding her arm next to Oniyuri's. True to her word, Oniyuri's skin was multiple shades lighter than hers, although it was far darker than the skin she had in her last life.

With the last spoonful of milk long gone, Hanabi quietly left the room for a moment to gather Oniyuri's clothes and her own. She returned to extract the spoon Oniyuri had in her grasp and slowly tugging off the sleepwear she had on.

"Seeing as you know Japanese, I suspect you know about kimonos, Oniyuri-sama?" Hanabi asks, laying out the fabric in question, neatly displaying them for Oniyuri to see.

"Ye-ye-yesssss," she stutters out, finally achieving the word. It wasn't her first, seeing as Oniyuri worked hard so Hanabi's name was the first word she spoke.

"Fantastic. A lot of the first members to regain their past life were Japanese, so clan traditions are deeply enriched by Western culture. Of course, other cultures have made their place, but in order to fit in, we dress to impress." Hanabi lifts up Oniyuri's arms to slide them through the children's yukata. It was slightly heavier than her body was used to, but it wasn't used to much. "Our clan mostly dress in kimonos and yukatas."

It takes some time for Hanabi to tie the obi around Oniyuri's chest and spent a good five minutes putting on her own.

"Alright," Hanabi smooths down the bottom of her yukata. "Let's go," She reaches down to pull Oniyuri off the floor, setting her on her hip. Oniyuri's tiny fingers automatically grasped the thin fabric, and they took the moment to make her burp.

They walk out of the little hotel room the clan rented, and walk through the rooms until they come to a door that was nearly identical to every other one, except it had the number fifty-two engraved on the door. Hanabi lightly knocks and states her name, waiting for the soft footsteps to reach the door.

"Hanabi-san," Asagao greets, "Kiku-dono is already here, come in." Oniyuri didn't really know Asagao, but Hanabi said she was the mother of the other baby who went through the ritual at the same time as her.

"Oh, I'm sorry for making you wait," Hanabi apologises, slightly bowing to the clan head. Oniyuri turns her head and slightly dips it. Kiku doesn't bow back, but she levels her steady eyes to meet hers.

"It is no problem." She answers, turning her gaze back to the other baby across the simple table that all of the rooms provided. He – it was obvious that it was a he, not only from the haircut but also the hard facial features.

"Good morning," he clearly says, more towards Oniyuri than to Hanabi.

"H-H-Hi." Oniyuri felt embarrassed, and it only messed up her pronunciation further. Hanabi told her she was progressing quickly with her speech, and yet this boy completely smashed through her record. He even said it in keigo!

"I see your speech is advanced like Asagao said, Ajisai" Kiku comments, and then diverts her attention to a packet of papers beside her as Hanabi sits Oniyuri beside Ajisai. The two older women leave them with the clan head, retreating to a corner of Asagao and Ajisai's hotel room.

"Now, in this introduction, we will be learning more about the Suiei Clan and this new world we live in." She picks out a few papers and lies them on the table. Thankfully, it was low enough for both of them to see. One of them was clearly a map – it had an irregular shape with lines crisscrossing all over it, single Kanji emblazed in the centre.

"This is the Elemental Nations. Each country is named after an element, funnily enough. New countries pop up and disappear all the time, mostly after a War. The five main countries are Fire, Lightning, Wind, Earth, and Water, powered through their Hidden Village. Other countries are Wave, Waterfall, Rain, Stone, River, Whirlpool, Frost, Hot Spring, Rice Fields and Grass, where we are currently. There is also Iron, but it does not allow outsiders to enter." She points out each of the countries on the map.

Kiku goes into detail about which country is famous for, whatever they sell. She tells us about a few things about each country, like how the clan was traced back to Lightning, the people in Sound don't particularly welcome them, and only once every five years are they allowed into Iron. She mentions that villages are normally only about 100 people large, and the biggest could only reach around a thousand. They dotted the continent, almost hundred thousand towns, and more were appearing each day.

Finally, she places the map away, yet she doesn't get another one. Kiku turns to Oniyuri and Ajisai and laced her fingers together. Despite Oniyuri not knowing what was going on, she felt herself almost anticipating the next words out of Kiku's mouth.

"I am sure that your caretakers have mentioned the existence of ninjas." Oniyuri nods best she could, but only could barely dip her head down in fear of tipping over. "They are not the silly ninjas that use simple tricks to fool ordinary people. The most famous ninjas can easily level a town without breaking a sweat. _Do not_ think that ninjas use _tricks_."

There was something seeping into the air that felt thicker and heavier than humidity and a _lot_ more dangerous. It made Oniyuri's heart beat faster, and the light seemed to desert the room, and for the first time in a very long time, Oniyuri felt _scared._

Abruptly, it disappeared.

"That was _killing intent,_ " Kiku explains, her posture not moving. Oniyuri realised she hadn't moved at all. "Ninjas can create _far_ worse, and a weak heart can give out if it's too strong. That is only the _bare_ minimum of what a ninja can do."

She pauses, letting it sink in.

Oniyuri doesn't quite know why Kiku scared them like that. She could see that it was more to scare them into understanding that ninjas shouldn't be underestimated, but if the heart thing was true, then why expose two recently-born babies to it? Whatever Kiku's purpose was, it probably had the opposite effect on Oniyuri. A fire of curiosity flickers inside her, urging her to learn _more_.

Kiku leans back, the threat theatrics apparently over.

"The reason why ninjas are so strong is because of _chakra._ " She draws out another piece of paper, a simple outline of a person with strange lines all over the body. From what she remembered, Oniyuri couldn't remember any medical diagram like that.

A little yin and yang were drawn in the gut of the outline, a kanji that Oniyuri recognised as physical on the chest and another kanji – this time mental – taking up space inside the head. Both hands were engulfed in a whitish-blueish fire.

"The chakra they use is the mix of mental chakra and physical chakra," here she pointed to the corresponding kanji "they then draw it to the hands where they form it via hand seals." She then moved her hands in strange patterns.

"Here is where we're delving into clan secrets. Do not repeat them to other people without my explicit permission." Kiku casts a glance at both of them, before continuing. "After accessing your past memories, your mental chakra will skyrocket, far quicker than your physical chakra can keep up with. Tell me, how old are you?"

Ajisai repeats his without a single sign of struggle while it took Oniyuri some time and several attempts to stutter out her age. Embarrassment burned her checks - Ajisai was far younger than her, and yet he easily outstripped her.

Kiku smiles and nodded. "I suspected so. Oniyuri-san, your mental chakra is the biggest I've ever seen in this life. I think it's the biggest since the birth of this clan." Oniyuri blinks in shock, nearly slipping off the block she was leaning against, catching her balance by the skin of her teeth. Oniyuri knew she had been _old_ , but she found it hard to believe that the clan didn't have a few elderly people in their midst.

Despite her doubts, Oniyuri felt a little self-esteem return.

"Our clan earn our income by travelling to many, many places to give entertainment to everybody. And that includes _everybody_." Oniyuri was slightly confused by the sudden change of topics but nevertheless continued to listen. "We dance."

She blinked – Oniyuri didn't see that coming.

"Because our chakra is unbalanced, we treat it differently. We'll go into that at a later date, but basically, we use our chakra to control _water_." Oh. So that's why they were named Suiei.

Kiku slides her hand around the ceramic cup that Oniyuri had ignored for the most of the session. She raises her hand and when the middle of her palm passed the opening of the cup, water followed. Oniyuri could've sworn up and down that what she saw was plain _water bending_ , not _chakra_.

The Clan head plays around with the water for a little, drawing kanji, spreading it flat and then disrupting the surface so it looked like the sea, and finally reached out to us and tapped us on the nose, where Ajisai hiccupped.

"Is there any questions?" Kiku asks when the water returns to her cup.

Hell yeah, Oniyuri wanted to say, but her speed impediment closed over her mouth like an invisible hand. Mentally sighing, she turns her head to watch Ajisai, no doubt bursting with questions. Surprisingly, all he did was gape at their clan head like she had broken his world.

"Alright, then," Kiku says, shuffling around her papers. "Once you learn how to speak and crawl, I'll visit you two again." Hanabi and Asagao's voices grew closer, apparently sensing the teaching lesson was over.

"Have a good day, Kiku-dono," Hanabi bows deeply, and they all stand in silence until she leaves. Hanabi gently picks up Oniyuri, settling her tiny body onto her hip again. "See you later, Asagao-san,"

"Bye," Oniyuri carefully says, giving the other woman and the little boy on the ground a wave. Asagao returns it with a small smile, but Ajisai doesn't even acknowledge it.

* * *

 **A little note (A/N)**

Be prepared for _a lot_ of OCs, _a lot_ of world building, and _a lot_ of weird shit being made up. And swearing, that too.

Updates every Tuesday, until I run out of previously written chapters. Have a nice day :D


	3. 1 - Ritual Chapter 3

The next morning was chaotic, but had an underlying tone of order. They were leaving again, aiming for Waterfall. They would tour the area, visiting the Hidden Village Taki last for the Daimyo there. Hanabi explained _Hidden_ Villages were different from the small towns that littered the continent as that's where ninjas were trained, and the populations there tended to hit around ten thousand for the less powerful Villages while the Five (Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa) were nearly hundred thousand. Protection was the prime concern for this life.

The morning routine was already familiar to Oniyuri. The Suiei Clan moved every few days, jumping from the next village to the neighbouring towns. There wasn't much for Oniyuri to do, only to sit there and exercise her weak muscles. Secretly she tried to do the thing Kiku did with the water, but the most that happened was water slopping in the cup. Thankfully, Oniyuri was finally able to pick the cup up, but it took all her concentration to grasp it with two hands.

Hanabi, on the other hand, moved from one end of the house to the other, quietly packing whatever had crept out during their two days stay at the Grass hotel, which wasn't that much.

Hanabi paused around a quarter to eight to feed Oniyuri, where she proudly showed off her cup lifting skills. Her caretaker merely blinked and congratulated Oniyuri on the achievement, and offered the spoon (empty so nothing could spill) for her to be preoccupied with while Hanabi called on her friend.

Hanabi returned a short time later with none other than Asagao in tow, Ajisai on her hip. The other woman sets the boy down next to her, setting the cup that she had just previously showcased her ability to lift it to Hanabi.

The older women chatter as Oniyuri casts a glance towards Ajisai, who was trying to lift the cup. One half of her expected him to easily lift it with one hand without concentration, but his hand couldn't even grasp around the cup as his hands were too weak and too small. Perhaps that part that had high expectations what just salty over the fact that Ajisai could speak.

"T-Two hands!" Oniyuri explains, making grabbing hands towards the cup. Ajisai immediately scowls.

"Can't you speak clearly?" He grumbles but slides the cup over with a little hand waving. Taken by surprise, Oniyuri has to wait for a full two seconds to understand what Ajisai was getting at. Very carefully she grasped the cup with two hands and raised it, even trying to hold it to her lips. She would've taken a sip, but that meant tipping backwards and she was perfectly fine with staying upright.

"Oh, of course," Ajisai mutters in English, "start with _two hands_." Oniyuri sets down the cup and slides it toward him again, noticeably a lot smoother than his previous wild smack towards her. He tries again and this time his fingers completely circle the cup.

"Wow, working together! Such cuteness," Asagao sighs, holding her hands over her heart. "You two are definitely made for each other." Oniyuri sends her the flattest look she could with a baby's face. Ajisai was _far_ too young for Oniyuri to consider, even when they grew up. Plus, she wasn't interested in romance, full stop. She wished that she could tell Asagao all this because Oniyuri could predict that Asagao was the type of person to see a girl and a boy and presume they were together.

"No thank you," Ajisai curtly cuts off anything Asagao was going to say, sounding as disgusted as a cute baby could.

"Come on Asagao-san, leave them alone. I'll help you with Ajisai-san." Hanabi intervenes, walking over to pick up the boy in question.

Because of the lack of technology, the Suiei Clan got around by walking. Those unable to walk had to be carried – the elderly in caravans, the babies strapped to their caretakers' back. Unfortunately, the way they did that was by wrapping a piece of rope. It had taken Oniyuri several attempts by Hanabi to be convinced to do it the first time, and she still didn't like it. But it was the only way without tiring Hanabi's arms.

When Hanabi was finally done attaching Ajisai to Asagao's back, it was her turn. At least this time, Oniyuri got to see Ajisai's extremely disgruntled face every time Asagao was in front of Hanabi.

With the two babies off the floor and out of the way, Hanabi could do the final sweep of the room. She packed away the little backrest they propped them up and returned the cup to the little kitchen. Once that was done, Hanabi tied the little scroll that held everything she owned on her back, snuggly sitting at the bottom of her spine. Oniyuri only knew of this because Hanabi followed Asagao back to her room after locking the room she was just in and the other woman did the same thing.

All around them the rest of the clan was also leaving their rooms. Oniyuri could see a few people she was introduced over the past few weeks but hadn't really interacted since. Much like Hanabi said a few days ago – the clan wore traditional clothes – nearly everybody around them had a yukata on.

Outside the hotel was the same organised chaos. The elderly were being led towards the caravan with the Suiei Clan emblem painted on the side, while the younger members intermingled and chatted. That, coupled with the busy street, equated to a lot of mayhem.

Oniyuri turned her head towards the hotel, waiting for the one person they were all waiting for – Kiku. She was always the last because she went into every room and made sure no members were left behind. When she appeared, Oniyuri tugged on Hanabi's sleeve and slurred out Kiku's name, making sure to add the honorific _dono_ at the end. It takes a few seconds, but the clan falls silent.

"Alright, let's get going," Kiku says, falling into step behind the carriage, the rest of the clan slowly lining up. They leave the village – the name of which Oniyuri never learnt – with a swift pace. In fact, _too_ fast.

"Walk fast," Oniyuri asks, wanting to beat herself up over the awful sentence structure.

"You have good eyes Oniyuri-sama," Hanabi smiles, the bare edges of it skimming the sides of Oniyuri's sight. "We can only stay at towns that have the capacity to hold us all, so that means very small towns can't offer more than a lunch break. Most of the time, the distance between our start and our target is larger than walking speed, so we use chakra to speed things along." True to her word, the convoy was picking up speed. She felt like an idiot not noticing the superhuman speed beforehand.

"I… sama?" It takes some time for Hanabi to recognise what she was asking for, and with each passing second, all Oniyuri could think of was Ajisai's perfect speech.

"Me calling you sama? Well, you're older than me, so to be polite, I add sama. Its just manners, I can drop it if you want." She explained.

"Oniyuriiii, pleaaaasé." The frustration built inside Oniyuri. How the hell did Ajisai get so _good_ in such little time? It was _insane_. Dimly, she heard Hanabi repeating her name, finally dropping the honorific.

"You have a fantastic speech for a newborn, Oniyuri-san!" The new voice cuts into the off-key conversation, and Oniyuri looks over to see a new man, one that she had been introduced to but had since forgotten his name. She had been introduced to many people.

"Nanohana," Hanabi greets, a little note of surprise. Normally on these hikes, Hanabi and Oniyuri were by themselves, not talking to those around them.

"I see that Oniyuri-san and Ajisai-san got their introduction yesterday," The apparently named Nanohana cheerfully continues on. "Welcome to the clan, Oniyuri."

"Ajisai, better," Oniyuri mutters into the back of Hanabi's yukata. She doubts that it was soft enough for Nanohana to overhear though.

"What about me?" The arrogant brat drifts from the other side that Nanohana was on. Oniyuri turns her head to spot Asagao with a smirking baby clutching her yukata for dear life. She wanted to laugh at the weird oxymoron that it presented. Just to be a _little_ annoying back to the twit, Oniyuri dropped her soft grip on Hanabi's yukata. She swore Ajisai's smirk wavered for a moment.

Nanohana barks out a laugh, carrying over the surprisingly soft sound of the clan running. "I guess I should extend a welcome to you too Ajisai-san." He grins. "I bet you guys are curious about the ninjas, right?"

"Nanohana-san," Hanabi scolded.

"Oh, come on Hanabi-chan, let him go." Asagao laughed, and Ajisai gripped her yukata a little tighter.

Instead of showing off whatever ninjas skills Nanohana had, or feeding us obviously fake stories, he told us a little history about the Suiei Clan.

Around the end of the Warring Clans Era (a term we were supposed to learn in future lessons), the Suiei Clan was invited by the developing villages to stay there. Of course, they declined because they wanted to keep their entertainment open for everyone, but they left a few members that did want to become a ninja behind.

Eventually, some of them returned and they were stationed as guards. They handed down the ninja techniques to those who were interested, and despite their skills being several decades out of date, they could defend against bandits where their fame did not. It turns out that the Suiei shows were heavily sought out.

Nanohana pointed out to shadows in the long grass that moved too fast, quicker than the convoy themselves. Those were the guards.

"Occasionally, they'll come out during travelling to talk with us. Apart from that, they still live in the same hotels as us." As soon as he finishes, a blur jumps out of the wavering grass, too fast for Oniyuri's baby eyes to keep up with, landing next to Kiku. The man spoke to her for a few moments and then disappeared, vanishing back into the surrounding plains.

The fire of curiosity that had dulled over the past day roared back into life. Oniyuri wanted to know _more_.

"Unfortunately, those who peruse the ninja arts can't be a dancer," Nanohana sighs, despair and disappointment evident in his voice.

"Could you tell me more about the dancers?" Ajisai spoke up, voicing the question that had been hanging on the back of her mind since the talk with Kiku yesterday. In fact, there were a lot of questions that had been hanging around since that talk.

"I know that it sounds silly that a clan can last for centuries just by dancing, but we survive by doing many, many different things. We tell stories, we dance with more than one person, and music can be added. But anybody could do that. What makes us special is that we dance _on_ and _with_ water. Multiple outsiders have tried to replicate what we do, but they always fail." Nanohana's voice turns mischievous. "For a good reason."

"Alright!" Kiku calls and holds up a hand. "Slow down! Waterfall's border approaches."

This was the first time Oniyuri was awake for a crossing of the borders. The ritual she partook in was held on the coast of Earth country, and the day after they crossed into Grass. She was still unused to a new body and couldn't resist the call of sleep, and during that little nap, they crossed.

Hanabi had informed her of what to do when they crossed the border yesterday. First to arrive were the runners. They scouted ahead and gave notice to villages of their passing, advertising the Clan. However, because a few decades ago someone snuck through the border by faking their identification as a Suiei runner, they couldn't cross it until the rest of the clan caught up. Next to where the guards, as those with chakra had a longer vetting process and finally was the rest of the clan.

As every country knew who the Suiei Clan was, there wasn't much animosity, except during the Ninja Wars, where it just took longer to pass borders.

Hanabi had shown Oniyuri a small scroll that had her identification papers, which showed where she was born, who her parents were, and general appearance identifications. It wasn't much, but Oniyuri suspects it was only because she was a civilian.

They slow down well before the border, and by the time the wooden building appears on the horizon, they were going at civilian speed.

The building was placed on a small hill, which had slowly started to appear, disrupting the smooth grass plains. Beyond the building, the hills grew great in number and size. The border guard looked more like a lookout than a simple border check. The highest level was completely open, allowing people to see for miles.

Two little flags hang from the side, not much to it but a simple line that was fashioned differently. The one that was closest to them resembled blades of grass while the other one, to Oniyuri, looked like an arrow that was split down the middle.

There was a gathering of people at the base – the blue yukatas of the Suiei Clan were intermingled with some darker colours. From what Nanohana had told her, they were the runners and guards and the others were most likely ninjas.

Ninjas.

Kiku steps up immediately, handing over a very thick scroll that had two ends, one side that had far more paper than the other. Hanabi had explained that was the record of every Suiei Clan, and it should open up on the oldest living clan member, so they don't have to go through the profiles of older members.

Slowly they go through the process, one member at a time. Like Hanabi said, it took a long time for the guards to be approved. Kiku made sure that the runners were done first, so they could once again leave before the clan.

It took nearly half an hour for Hanabi and Oniyuri's turn, Asagao and Ajisai having gone in front of them. Kiku looked up, saw who was next and quickly unrolled the scroll to Hanabi's profile, while she took out her identification scroll from her sleeves, offering it to the ninja. He calmly reads it through, eyes flickering from the scroll to Hanabi's face.

Oniyuri saw another scroll sitting on the desk, looking identical to her identification scroll. It was in her reach – Hanabi had to lean down to sign a document. Thankfully, her skill at grabbing cylinder objects was good enough for her to pick up the scroll with only one hand. Hanabi stands straight again when she feels the weight on her back move, clearly startled.

"Ha-na-bi!" Oniyuri squeals, trying to act like an actual baby. The ninja sees the scroll she was waving about and holds his hand out to accept it, smiling pleasantly.

"What a cute baby you are…. Oniyuri-san," the ninja chuckles, reading her name from the scroll. He doesn't scrutinise it much and hands it back to her soon enough. Oniyuri awards the man with a smile. "Have a nice day, Hanabi-san and Oniyuri-san." He gives us a little wave, which was much more than any other member got.

Once they got the pat down, Oniyuri finally surrenders the scroll, letting Hanabi tug it out of her tiny fist. By then her tiny body was already exhausted and Oniyuri had forced herself to stay awake for the border crossing.

She looked over her shoulder, trying to find Asagao and Ajisai. To her satisfaction, he was long asleep, head resting against Asagao's shoulders. Oniyuri murmured "goodnight" to Hanabi, finally falling asleep.

* * *

 **A little note (A/N)**

May I extend my heartfelt thanks to those who have reviewed. This has been the fastest I've ever received this many reviews, thank you. c:

I haven't gotten to update in a while only bc I've forgotten, whoops!


	4. 1 - Ritual Chapter 4

While Waterfall was larger than Grass, the hills and – oddly enough – waterfalls made it hard for small villages to be set up. Those that did typically were too squished together to invest in a hotel with enough rooms to host the Clan, so with Waterfall, there weren't many places to go.

Apart from the Hidden Village (ninjas!), there were only two other villages that they were booked for. For small countries like Rain and Grass, it normally takes a month to travel to all the towns, and that was by moving every two or so days. Normally, the Suiei Clan would in and out of Waterfall within a week, but Hanabi had informed Oniyuri that the next area they were to visit was _Iron,_ and they were only allowed into it in a month's time.

That meant that the Suiei Clan could stay in one place for as long as a whole week. Which _also_ meant, perfect training time for the newborns.

While Ajisai could speak, he wasn't very good at moving his body, which was the complete opposite with Oniyuri herself. Where Ajisai could ask an adult to get him a drink, Oniyuri could crawl over to the kitchen and get the drink herself. Normally this evolved into Ajisai demanding Oniyuri to get him a cup as well. Luckily, Oniyuri was used to rude people, having made friends with enough.

Oniyuri had tried to improve her pronunciation to the best she could, but there wasn't anyone to compare it to. Other than Ajisai, there hadn't been anyone else born for several months prior to her rebirth, and nobody else was expecting for another two. Eventually, Oniyuri couldn't see any improvement in her speech and eventually gave up on that approach, focusing on her mobility.

Such decisions lead to one fine afternoon, just after a lesson of history. They were scheduled to leave the Hidden Village the next day, so the lesson wasn't that focused, tending to lean towards the simple ask-and-I-will-answer than the presentations they did.

Oniyuri had several questions she had compiled for this lesson, as something similar had happened the history lesson before they left for the Hidden Village. She didn't want to embarrass herself by speaking so Oniyuri had written out her questions by hand the night before. Her hand wasn't as steady as she wanted, but the writing was legible, so it would do.

She had been slowly putting her hand up all throughout the lesson, holding up the piece of paper when called upon. Her questions ranged from simple yes or no questions to questions that the teacher had to stop and think about.

Ajisai, who had just sat in silence for the lesson, soaked up anything the teacher answered. Just as Oniyuri was about to hold her hand up, Ajisai's hand shot up.

"Ajisai-san?" the teacher called out his name, waiting for the question.

"You mentioned the existence of Bijus." He says, clearly in English. "What are they?" It was a little strange that he chose to speak in English, seeing as some of the children in the room were still learning Japanese and you weren't always sure that everyone spoke English. Not to mention, Ajisai could easily speak in Japanese.

"I'm sorry?" the teacher blinks, evidently confused. Case One: whoever he was, he didn't speak English. Ajisai sighed. He rattles off this sentence that Oniyuri vaguely recognises as a European language. The teacher answers back in the same language, a little hesitant at first, but then going into full teaching mode. Finally, the teacher pauses and adds another sentence that Ajisai answers back with a single word, and sits back in his chair.

Oniyuri shamefully lowers her head down to the sheafs of paper and just _looks_ at the writing. Before, she thought it was decent, ok at best, with a lot of improvement to be done. But then Ajisai, who was not only decades younger than her, but also did the ritual at the same time, spoke not only one language clearly, but _three_ , two of which were European languages, which were a challenge to its own right.

Now her writing looked like a _child_ did it. And despite the fact that Oniyuri was a child, so was Ajisai, and he could get his mouth around three different languages. The desire to improve her speech shrived up and died at that exact moment.

Oniyuri slumped into her seat, and ignored the rest of the class, not noticing it was done until Hanabi came in to pick her up to take her back to the little apartment hotel that they had. They had dinner, where Oniyuri ate her baby mush with little enthusiasm. It didn't taste very nice in the first place, and it was worse now when Oniyuri felt everything that she had accomplished with her speech drain away.

Hanabi asked her a few questions about her day, but Oniyuri only mumbled her response into her spoon. On other days, she took this opportunity to see how far she got in terms of speech, but today she just didn't feel like talking.

As soon Hanabi stood up to take the plates to the kitchen, Oniyuri began her daily crawl to whatever she called her bed that night. A few nights ago they had stacked a few items next to the bed so she could get to the raised bed without requiring Hanabi to pick her up and place her on the bed.

"Oniyuri?" Hanabi exiting the kitchen to find her already on her bed. An amused smile flashed across her face. "Tired? You ready for tomorrow's travel?" Oniyuri wasn't really but nodded anyway. Her caretaker quickly finished what she was doing in the kitchen, and found her bed once all the lights were off.

Oniyuri sat on her bed, contemplating the day. Normally, she would take this time to run over all the alphabets of every language she had, pronouncing each sound carefully before moving onto the next. It was a good practice at first, as it improved her language exponentially, but when she opened her mouth to do it, Ajisai came to her mind.

And so she closed her mouth and rolled over in bed, getting ready to sleep.

Here, Oniyuri came to a standstill – if she lost all motive to improve her speech, what else should she do to fill in the boring days?

Focus on the stuff she _was_ good at.

Just before Oniyuri fell asleep, she set herself the goal of walking unassisted before the next week was out.

* * *

Waterfall's Hidden Village, called Taki, was the only Village that was actually _hidden_. At least, that's what Nanohana said. Oniyuri was still sceptical of what came out of his mouth after he told her and Ajisai something about the Suiei Clan and Hanabi had walloped him across his head.

Despite that, Oniyuri had to agree that Taki was hidden. When the Suiei Clan entered it, they had to be blindfolded and guided through kilometres of tunnels through the hills and waterfalls, and it was the same story exiting it. On the way there, Oniyuri wondered if the village was underground until they arrived and was greeted by open blue skies. She wondered if the surrounding forest was deadly if they boasted the fact nobody could find them. Or perhaps there were cliffs deep enough to discourage all humans.

The final village rises up before them, previously hidden by the hills, shaking Oniyuri from her thoughts. It wasn't as big as the Hidden Village, but compared to the first Waterfall village they stayed at, it was noticeably larger. The Clan were eagerly welcomed; civilians' faces lighting up when they spot the clan symbol.

Shouts of "They're here!" and "Wow, I haven't seen them in years," echoed around the still moving convoy. Judging by the fact this had happened several times in other villages, Oniyuri could see herself getting very tired by it quickly.

The place they were staying for the next week was a little different from previous months. The hotel was built _into_ a hill, low lit lamps giving a warm feeling to the individual rooms. It reminded Oniyuri of the houses in Cooper Pedy, only a lot less rocky and more dirt and concrete from what Oniyuri could remember from the one time she visited. Just for fun, she stuck matchsticks into the cracks that she could reach, but Hanabi couldn't draw the connection.

So she turned her attention to walking. She was probably the youngest baby to try to attempt walking, but Oniyuri didn't care. The Suiei Clan had knowledge on how babies can easily regain their skills, and Hanabi said her body was built like a ninja, so it genetically ready for her to be physically active at a younger age.

"Your father was probably a ninja," Hanabi shrugs as she starts to cook dinner, "That, or he at least came from a line of ninjas." Oniyuri pauses. This was the first time Hanabi had really mentioned her father, apart from the fact her name came from him.

"Can you tell me about him?" she presses. That fire of curiosity burned away, eagerly taking the chance to talk about ninjas. If he wasn't a ninja, at least she got to know at least a little about him.

"He was a one-night stand," she admitted, pouring the water into the pot of rice "I was looking for a father and he was just there. I made sure to tell him that, but I don't think he heard me. Anyway, he was pretty fit, even for a civilian. Either he was a Konoha ninja or a ninja visiting the Land of Fire. I had my suspicions, but when I sensed that you had a lot of chakra for a civilian mother, even before your ritual, I think it was half-confirmed. Still, he didn't say it outright."

Hanabi goes on to tell her that while she wanted a child, she wasn't interested in anybody, preserving the idea that she was mentally too old for anybody, and anybody that was old enough would think her physically too young.

Oniyuri accepted for what it was because it made sense. It wouldn't make an impact on her anyway; she didn't have any children in her past life, and she sure wasn't going to start in this one.

Once that discussion had passed, Hanabi had gone out for a chat with one of her friends in the Clan, and Oniyuri got to work on her walking skills, with minimal progress. Still, she could see her balance had improved, even so just a little, and that kept her spirits high. She tried to control her chakra, with nothing to show, before Hanabi returned and they went to bed.

The next few days saw an increase of her walking skills, as well as the continuation of the lessons. Oniyuri had enough of the physical lessons, seeing as they were still focusing on sitting up, and asked the teacher for more advanced lessons. The teacher was extremely amused to learn that she could already walk while holding someone else's hand, and lead her to someone else's room.

The door opened to music. There were only five children in the room with one adult, but all the children had to be at least a year older than her. The six of them stopped to look at the new addition to their group. Oniyuri had to give some kudos to the children and the adult; they didn't even blink to see a younger member being added to their lesson.

"Kigiku-san" Oniyuri's now ex-teacher waves at the adult. "Oniyuri-san isn't _quite_ ready, but she would learn more here than in my class." The adult nodded, and Oniyuri gently releases the hand of her old teacher to fall on her bottom, crawling over to the rest of the small class.

"Have you played any instruments?" Kigiku quietly asks. Kigiku was genderless, every sign of gender carefully erased, but there were some things Oniyuri could tell about them. For one, they didn't wear the normal yukata nearly every Suiei wore, instead, they wore a traditional kimono with sleeves nearly as long as themselves. They were regal, in a quiet way. This was a teacher who knew their shit.

The rest of the class had little things to separate them from each other. All had the Suiei Clan hair; simple black hair that was just barely springy to not be called dead straight, soft dark blue eyes and the classic dark Kumo skin, and most of them had the facial features that typically ran in the Clan, although some, like Oniyuri, was diluted, as common when the other parent came from outside. Some had longer hair, some had hair ornaments, some had bandaged-covered fingers, and some had different yukatas than the default they were handed to upon birth.

"…long time ago, played the violin. Still can read sheet music, but..." Oniyuri mumbles. Kigiku nods thoughtfully, carefully thinking. Oniyuri got the impression that every movement, every thought was carefully thought out before executed; like their life was just another instrument to be played.

"This world does not have sheet music." The kimono-clad non-binary explains "songs are individually taught." Oniyuri nods, crawling to sit in line with the rest of the students. And with that, Kigiku didn't focus on Oniyuri again, casting class-wide questions and explained how each instrument worked and their role in each song to the whole class. She was pleased to find out that she could play an instrument, slightly, just by picking up the pick and holding it in between her thumbs, carefully playing hot-cross-buns on the three strings of the shamisen.

Oniyuri exited that class flushed with accomplishment, smiling lightly at Hanabi as they went out to the town to have some local lunch. She was slightly dreading the history lesson that was to come after lunch, but she wouldn't let her personal image of _Ajisai_ bring her down. And besides, it wasn't a free-for-all questionnaire.

Lunch was entertaining. The waitress acted like she had never seen a baby before with how she reacted to Oniyuri, cooing and sighing over the fake acts she displayed. Towards the end the girl was grating on Oniyuri's nerves. She backed off, thankfully, when Oniyuri pretended to fall asleep on Hanabi's lap.

"Your acting skills are very good, Oniyuri," Hanabi noted. She shrugged.

"Model for a little bit." After a few short years, she switched to accounting, because it was something that she was interested in at school, and it paid good money. The huge amount of money she was paid had a good hand in creating a sizeable library in her home. Oniyuri paused, casting her mind back her magnificent library. "Does the Suiei clan have a library?"

"Slightly; we have all our booked stored away in one massive scroll. If you want, I'll take you to it after history." Oniyuri must've looked overly pleased by this development because Hanabi laughed and said they'll be going as soon as history was over.

Thankfully, history was good. Because Iron was their next target, their lessons for the next week was going to be geared towards the country.

There was a lot of ground work to be set up, and her history teacher promised that next lesson would be more interesting, but Oniyuri still enjoyed today.

Iron was the only country that didn't have ninjas but hated them and restricted travel between the borders, the security growing tougher as time passed. Only the Suiei Clan's fame was the saviour, giving them access to Iron.

It had been during the first shinobi war where their entry permit was limited to ten years, in an effort to keep the ninjas out. The next shogun, thankfully, liked the Suiei clan dances enough to cut that time in half.

Iron was noticeably the closest to Japan from Earth than everyone else from the rest of the Elemental Nations. They had samurais, they had swords, they had the government that replicated the Tokugawa Shogunate feudal system. But as much as they hated ninjas, they could still access chakra, and they still used it, although differently. But this was only the bare basics Oniyuri would learn in the coming week, and she was excited for more.

"Come on, Oniyuri," Hanabi called a few steps from her desk. It was far enough to warrant her to walk a few steps – still unsteadily, but far better than practically anybody else in the room could accomplish, apart from the adults – so Oniyuri carefully pushed her chair away from her desk and slid down, taking care to monitor where her feet landed and her balance, trying to not push herself by showing off.

Once in Hanabi's arms, Oniyuri looked around the room to see that nobody had noticed her accomplishment, so she shrugged it off and eagerly wait for Hanabi to take them to the so-called Suiei Library.

It was, simultaneously, a disappointment and broke everything she expected. True to Hanabi's words, all the books were sealed away in one massive scroll and were monitored by a librarian.

"Hello there," the cheerful boy asked, not even ten, sliding the book he was reading shut and placing it beside the scroll on his table. "Is there a book you're looking for?"

"Not really," Hanabi answers "but is there anything you would recommend for Oniyuri?" The boy leant closer to peer at her, close enough for her to see the small painted dot on his forehead, almost too dark to see against his skin.

"Ah, I've been hearing gossip about you, Oniyuri-san!" the boy exclaims, cheerfully unrolling the massive scroll to show at least three sealing points, with more probably hidden further in the scroll. He proceeded to unroll the scroll, stop, unseal a book, unroll it more, unroll, unroll, unseal, unroll…

Finally, he held out five books, ranging from thicker than her arm to a small booklet.

"I think these would suit you," he says and pulls out yet _another_ scroll, only to write on this one. Perhaps that was the catalogue of outgoing and incoming books.

Hanabi took the accepted books, and not shortly after that they were waving the boy goodbye. Leaving him to pick up his book. The books were too heavy for Oniyuri to have a look at them now, and would have to wait until they got back to their own hill-room.

Once inside, Hanabi placed them out on the table for Oniyuri to observe and vanished into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

The first book was surprisingly in Korean. For one, Oniyuri hadn't had the chance to really talk in that language, and besides, where would she use it outside of the Clan? Nevertheless, she picked it up and flipped it over to see if it had a blurb. It was a book on several physical activities newborns tend to forget and pay for it later, like some finger stretches and gum exercises. It reminded Oniyuri that she had to go through gumming. Hanabi had explained to her it was very painful, and there was little the Clan could help. This was one of those booklets.

The second book was a little on music, and the different instruments the Suiei Clan used in their dances, and the size wasn't much bigger than the previous book. This time, the book was in English.

The third book was useless; it was in Thai, and she didn't know how to speak that, and only knew how to identify it. Sighing, she set it aside. The boy probably heard she had spent most of her life in Japan and other nearby countries. She flicked through it and was a little sad to put it aside. The pictures looked interesting.

The fourth book was just a little bigger than the musical book, this time in Mandarin and explained about the different types of dances the Suiei clan could and did, do. There were a lot of colourful pictures inside.

The final book was the biggest, so she left it for last, and wasn't disappointed. It was notably _not_ Suiei and it was battered. The language inside resembled Japanese enough for her to understand it. Oniyuri opened the cover to spot a little note in English, warning the reader that it was slightly biased. It was understandable – most books not of Suiei origin were biased. Even books from inside were biased. The book itself was what Oniyuri was most excited about. It was on _ninjas_.

"Oniyuri," Hanabi called, exiting the kitchen to lean over the books. Her eyes widened when she spotted the different languages. "You can read all of those languages?"

"Not Thai," Oniyuri muttered, eyes flickering over each of the books, trying to decide to which one she should read first. In her first life, she was something of a language nut, eating up four Asian languages one after the other, with Japanese being the one she was most fluent and Vietnamese the least.

"Wow, I can only speak French, German and Japanese." Hanabi grinned at Oniyuri reaching over the table to ruffle the little hair growing out of her head. "Could you clear the table? Dinner's almost ready."

By the time her caretaker had brought over the dinner, Oniyuri had taken each book back over to her bed one at a time and chosen which book she would crack open first. Once dinner was over, she returned to bed with a full stomach and cracked open the Korean book, settling down for the night.

 **A little note (A/N)**

 **Sorry for not updating earlier I forgot hahahaha :)**

 **If you don't know what a Cooper Pedy house is, look it up. The short story is: they live out in the middle of Australia where it is so extremely hot they made houses _in_ the rocky hills. They wedge matchsticks in the cracks in the ceiling, so if it widens, the matchsticks fall and the people living there are warned. At least, that's what I remember from my visit there. That, and a lot of opals. **


	5. 1 - Ritual Chapter 5

oh btw im doing this for nanowrimo  
i was going back over the old chapters to refreshen my memories (sorry for not updating... i feel highly ashamed) and found not one but three more chapters I had written but never uploaded. I was going to load them straight up but i cringed at the writing.  
tl;dr the award for waiting for so long for an update is that the writing improves dramatically. (although i wouldn't say it's any award-winning writing rn, its just better)

* * *

She caught sight of them, painted on the horizon like an omnipresent entity, the dark rock a scrape against the snow white. In a painting of greys and whites, the Three Wolves broke the skyline, a broken pattern that her eyes always got caught on.

Iron was reminiscent of the cold winters of Japan's mountainous areas, where locals battled against snow mid-autumn. The great trees with needle-like leaves where unrecognisable under a thick layer of snow and ice, the edges of the road vanishing under metres of snow.

In this environment, the naturally-formed land mark that was the Three Wolves could be seen from every direction; four of the largest cities spread across Iron Country used this as the central point, and even the ninjas used the grand rock formation as neutral land.

Of the four major cities the Suiei clan would only visit Southern Capital, the closest to the border. Special amenities for the clan peppered the land surrounding the Southern Capital, including a stadium solely used by their performances. The edges were decorated with the clan emblem interspaced with the current Shogun's family crest, this continuous pattern repeating not only on the exterior but along the audience barriers, seats, and architectural supports such as arches and beams.

Oniyuri ran her hands across the emblems, gaze dropping from the sight of three gaping maws she could just define between the trees, to watch the multitude of clan members scattered across the stadium as they calmly but hurriedly cleaned the dust and dirt that had collected over the last five years.

She ran one finger over the Shogun's crest, an oval with jaggered edges, perhaps to replicate the maws of the wolves on the horizon, before sliding off the seat. Ajisan, who sat next to her, made a noise of question, but she waved off his concerns with the Korean baby-care book. Oniyuri had gone over it with a fine-tooth comb for what felt like the tenth time, and she was pretty sure she could remember what it said.

Oniyuri needed more books; she had finished all of them excluding the Thai and ninja book. The ninja book posed several complications that had not occurred to Oniyuri, but it was not the time to assess them. While she would finally walk without assistance, she could not walk alone for long periods of time. Oniyuri was so close to her self-set goal she could almost taste the achievement, but _close_ did not mean _accomplished_.

Oniyuri and Ajisai were alone with Asagao; Hanabi was preoccupied with classes of her own, no doubt getting ready for the nights to come. This was Oniyuri and Ajisai's first time watching the performance, and Oniyuri was ready to dive in head first.

Nevertheless, Oniyuri hitched a ride with the next group heading to the hotel with a polite "May I join you," and was rewarded with a merry ride on Nanohana's shoulders. There was two reasons for her to return to the hotel.

After spending a few moments to rest in Hanabi and her's shared room and picking up the other finished books, Oniyuri slipped over to where she was told the library boy had taken up residence.

"Oniyuri-san!" The boy exclaimed upon opening the door for her. "Welcome back!" he grins and steps aside so she could toddle inside, closing the door behind her. She shamefully dumps the books in front of his scroll, arms screaming from over-exertion, stealing her ability to set them down gently.

"Sorry," she says, in lieu of a greeting, "No speak Thai." The boy beamed anyway.

"So just Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and English?" he sits down once more, taking out the borrowing records to return the books.

"Latin," Oniyuri adds, _but I can only read it_ , she wishes she could add, but refrained. The library boy shook his head sadly.

"I can't let any of my Latin books out of my sight." He sighs, like it's the greatest tragedy, both of this world and previous. To a librarian, it wouldn't be far-fetched. "Not too many people speak it, I'm afraid."

Oniyuri nods in understanding, turning to leave.

"No new books?" Oniyuri shakes her head "Understandable. I hope you find that last book interesting!" the boy stands again to open the door, smile visible through his unkempt fringe as she gave him one last wave. _Curious boy_ , Oniyuri thought, continuing on her journey for the last reason she returned to the hotel.

Over the past few weeks Kigiku had given a little tune for Oniyuri to practice, on an instrument no complicated than its name: a wooden fish. It was nothing more than a steady beat with a few double eighth notes inserted in orderly fashion, but it was the induction into musical instruments for any clan member. Kigiku wanted Oniyuri to go over it one more time before Oniyuri performed it at the stadium.

She found herself once more outside the hotel, waiting for a familiar family crest to direct her to the music teacher, when they themselves found Oniyuri instead.

"Kigiku-san," Oniyuri greets, taking her hand gratefully and allowing herself to be directed back inside.

"You shouldn't hang outside the hotel, not when you're still physically a toddler." Kigiku's gentle voice sounds as beautiful as the instruments as she could masterly play. It sounded like a tragedy to hear the scolding tone. Oniyuri gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

"My apologies."

Kigiku ushers her into a room a few levels away from the library boy's room; two other children sat in front of kotos, no doubt having their own form of a test. They had their hair pinned back artfully, with a sturdy kimono almost a sidenote when next to the tasteful hair ornaments. They would no doubt be in public view later, but had not changed into appropriate clothes yet.

"Oniyuri," Kigiku gestures to the wooden fish. Oniyuri takes her place before it, picking up the hammer beside it and at her teacher's gesture, began a solid marching tone. The two older children, whom had been chattering moments before, paused for her minor performance. Out of the corner of her eye, Oniyuri saw them slowly relax, finding solace in the comforting beat. She began the little rift that was not hard to memorise, finishing the song after a solid smack to the striking area. Her hand not clutching the hammer fell away from the kimono sleave, letting it droop forward once more.

"You have performed admirably." Kigiku picks up the wooden fish with delicate grip, respecting the instrument no matter how basic the music it could produce. That sentence represented Kigiku highly accurately, Oniyuri could admit. "I will see you at the stadium later tonight."

She wouldn't be performing in front of a live audience; no. Like how the other children had stopped to listen, the tune was a method for other clan members to calm down and begin to focus for the night. Tradition called for the youngest member of the music class to perform it, and the duty had finally been handed to Oniyuri.

Kigiku dismissed her with a few short words of criticism and compliments, instructing for her to return to her room until her guardian – Hanabi – could return.

Like magic, Hanabi answered the door for Oniyuri, offering a hand for support.

"How did your exam go?" Hanabi asks, pulling out the special heavy-duty winter outer kimonos specifically designed for Iron. With the sun disappearing behind the Three Wolves, the temperature was diving every second. While the stadium was heated, the journey there was not.

"OK." Oniyuri held out her arms, welcoming the blanket of warmth that the outer kimono offered. She gathered her calligraphy instruments, casting a glance at the ninja book sitting innocently beside her bed, not giving any indication to the problems that plagued the words inside.

Hanabi thankfully took the writing tools, allowing Oniyuri to slide her hands into the sleeves so she could warm her ice cold fingers in the crook of her elbow. Asagao's room was not far away; Oniyuri only needed to rest once on the walk over. Hanabi and Asagao had started to hang out more, partly because the two of them were in the same situation, and partly because after the first few awkward weeks, the two of them finally hit upon something they could talk about for hours on end.

And well, if Hanabi and Asagao were friends, that meant Oniyuri and Ajisai were now friends. Oniyuri was still trying to figure out her thoughts on this subject right up until Hanabi rapped her fist against Asagao's door, the sound of which quieted her mind.

"Hanabi-san!" Asagao answers cheerfully from behind the door, light steps shuggling over to open it for them. "Come in, come in. How are you today, Oniyuri-san?" she waved her hand in answer, gingerly smiling at the older women. She had returned from the stadium, most likely because them in the audience seats was getting tedious and boring. The three of them walked towards a low-lying table, where Ajisai sat with his back towards the door. He was impossibly still, having just gotten rid of the backrest, still slightly unsteady.

Hanabi gestured for Oniyuri to sit next to Ajisai, while the older women walked off to the kitchen, chattering away. Oniyuri was happy to sit with the boy, at least, lest she got forced to listen to the conversation on whatever Asagao and Hanabi found interesting.

"How are you today, Oniyuri-san?" Ajisai gently asks, watching her as she set out the calligraphy set and prepared the ink.

"Good." She grasped at the edge of the table, slowly lowering herself to the ground. Her hands were clumsy, but it was long before Oniyuri was carefully placing the last stroke of the clan name. Ajisai was watching her stoke, eyes following the tip of the brush. The kanji were wonky, Oniyuri could easily see that, but it was much better than her attempts from last week, let alone when she first started.

Oniyuri cast a glance at the other child at the table.

"Ajisai…" she murmured. To be frank, there was only so many times before writing 鬼百合 got really boring. Having decided, she spelt three more kanji: 紫陽花. She set down the brush and turned the page towards Ajisai, pulling out a fresh sheet and setting it down next to the one she had just done. "Here." She offered the brush.

"Wait, what?" his tiny hands grasp at the brush, little splatters of ink marring both the fresh page and the example as he tried to steady both his hands. Both arms shook from the strength he poured into the task. "You're giving this to me? Why?" Oniyuri slapped Ajisai's name, giving him a puzzled glance.

"Your name." she explains, and slides one chubby finger down beside the kanji. "Sui-ei A-ji-sai." His eyes widens, and his adorably cute baby face melts into a pout.

"Oh, yes, my name. Right…" one of Ajisai's hands falls away from the brush, the tip of it dropping to lightly scrape against the paper, and even though his arms jerks up again a dark splotch of ink is left. Ajisai looked hopelessly lost.

"Can't write?" Ajisai winces, and his eyes transfix themselves on the example kanji. Oniyuri allows herself to feel amused, drinking in the satisfaction of finding something that Ajisai didn't excel at. She then boxed it up and stored it away, scooting her body around the corner until she was next to Ajisai. She took the brush again, and began to write: あえいうおcalling out the corresponding sounds as she goes.

Slowly, but surely, they work their way through the entire hiragana alphabet. Ajisai had a go at identifying a few that Oniyuri drew, and had a small lesson on how to correctly hold a shodo brush before he practiced the characters.

Ajisai was a genius; he memorised characters quicker than an eager, ready-to-learn student, and could vomit back the little rhymes in a snap. Just to show him something more, Oniyuri gave him the characters of one to ten, and a few necessary vocab, such as to go, to see and to eat.

Oniyuri was just about to throw the brush down in shame (Ajisai had just torn through the entire alphabet without a single nudge of reminder from her) Hanabi and Asagao breezed back into the room, taking in the scene with a smile.

"Practicing your characters?" Hanabi took the brush offered to her by Oniyuri, taking it back into the kitchen to clean. She could reach the bench, unlike Oniyuri.

"Oh, I was going to show you sometime," Asagao sighed, but helped Oniyuri pack the utensils away, "We'd better hurry up if Oniyuri is to perform at the stadium beforehand."

Hanabi took them by their room to drop off Oniyuri's calligraphy set, not wasting any time dallying before they were rushing out of the hotel and towards the stadium.

This time the arena was a flurry of activity; the colosseum all focused on the pool of water, still as the air on a humid day but not a single sign of icing. Asagao and Ajisai quickly made their way to the clan seating, a ring of seats closest to the grand stage, while Hanabi branched off towards the orchestra pit. Kigiku was already seated, stealing the spotlight despite cornered by a range of kotos up the back. Oniyuri directed Hanabi to seat her in front of the wooden fish, on a little prop that allowed herself to peak over the edge of the pit. From the angle Oniyuri could see a magnificent platform breaking the rows of seating, grandeur flourishment and drapes almost completely concealing the raised area. Flanking that, clan members were laying the last of lush cushions and decorations. The quality of ornaments dropping further from the centre and from the platform.

"That's for the shogun," Oniyuri turned to see the children from music class. This time they were dressed appropriately; an embroidered kimono complimenting the hair pins. Their hands were shaking, even as she pointed at the drapes. The other lad was twisting a ring on his finger as he stared down at the instruments before him. "The first night is always reserved for the shogun and his most important nobles and loyal samurais."

"Oniyuri-san," Kigiku calls from behind her. "Begin when you are ready."

Even from the limited view of the pit Oniyuri knew in her bones that this was a night to remember, not only for her but for all that would see. The stadium was huge, the pool of water was huge, and the beautiful music Kigiku and her students could produce was a series of signs: signs that the Suiei Clan took their career seriously. Oniyuri waved over the other students that were just talking to her.

"Good luck," she begins, and switches her train of thought halfway through her words of encouragement. "You guys are going to rock this." They give her a weak smile, grateful but full of nerves. She pulls the hammer towards her and gives the wooden fish a light smack. It resounds around the stadium. Fantastic acoustics, it seems. Oniyuri buries herself into the melody, hardly paying attention to those around her, even as the students settled behind their instruments.

The stadium quietened down until it was only sound of the wooden fish echoing through the ring. Oh, Oniyuri could hear the students in front of her murmuring, and the occasional laughter could be heard from the clean seatings, but the tension in the air seemed to drain away.

It was not long before the strings of the koto could be heard behind the wooden fish; Kigiku slowly began to increase the volume of her music, her students joining in as the sounds Oniyuri makes is eventually drowned out by more complicated pieces. With one last strike, she lies the hammer down and quietly shuffles out of the orchestra pit. Hanabi was waiting around the corner, quickly guiding her towards the clan seating.

By the time they found the seats Asagao had saved for them, the audience was already filtering into the stadium; the rich nobels and samurais were allowed in first, as a sign of privilege and money. While Oniyuri could spot the difference between a noble and a samurai, she was hard pressed to find the differences in wealth. Perhaps the commoners were on another day? They were staying in Iron for two weeks.

Ajisai was already looking bored, so Oniyuri grabbed his hand and began to trace out characters. After a few seconds of confusion, he began to recite the correct answers. Even with the occasional mistake, Ajisai still recalled all the characters with a freakish ability.

The sun had already gone down while Oniyuri and Hanabi were inside Asagao and Ajisai's room; the surroundings of the stadium slowly being swallowed up by the dark. The shogan had arrived an hour after the orchestra began, giving a small taste of how long the night was shaping up to be.

The music changes into something Oniyuri recognises as the song Kigiku called _Daybreak_ , and a hush falls over the audience as the lights in the seats dim. A breath of anticipation – and then Oniyuri sees Kiku.

It's hard to recognise the ethereal angel as Kiku, partly because the first time Oniyuri sees her she's still half-hiding in a dark archway, the only level access to the water bowl. Even as she steps out, feet finding footing on flat water, she still unrecognisable. She's wearing a six layered kimono, each a contrasting but complimenting colour. The outer layer is embroidered to hell and back, tiny details that do not escape Oniyuri's notice even from where she was sitting. Her sleeves almost touch the water, and the layers of the kimono drag behind her. Astonishingly, they don't fall into the water, and show no signs of being wet.

To top it all off is the sheer number of loose, vibrant fabric and jewellery. There's small ropes, strips of colour, chains, bells, whistles, and more hanging from the obi, from her niqab (which is pinned up into the most complicated up-do, but still leaves the ends hanging), from her arms. She's also clasping two giant ceremonial fans, the ends of the spindles also decorated with strings and bells.

It's only when she raises her arms and opens her eyes that Oniyuri finally sees Kiku. It was the way she held her body, the strength behind her eyes. If it wasn't already established that Oniyuri was one of the oldest members, then she could've easily fallen into a girl crush right then and there.

Kiku raises the fans in a wide arc, the wide face of the fan facing the earth and the sky. The music jumps, the water underneath the fans responding and reaching to touch the edges of the fan. Kiku bursts into full motion, the water under her feet reacting artistically as she spun, the water attached to her ceremonial fans bending around her explosion of fabric and colour like it was afraid to touch art.

Her style was traditional Japanese dances and European contemporary; ballet and interpretative; a flare of the kimono's sleeve followed by delicate sweep of her arm as tiny streams of water attached to various ornaments weave together. The dance itself was a perfect mix of abstract and a storyline; by itself it could've made a beautiful private performance, but the

The fire of curiosity exploded inside Oniyuri, only it wasn't geared towards ninjas. It was towards the hard work of finding your limbs, the smoothness of finding the beat, the joy of performing – Oniyuri wanted to dance, something she had not felt in years. She wanted to be the one out there, mixing Georgian style with hip hop, or some other wacky combo, to not only practice in solitude but to showcase the end product. And the water was just another layer of complexity – _Oniyuri wanted that_.

The music comes to the last throws; moving faster and the sounds of stronger notes beating across the stadium like rapid heartbeats. Kiku's arms sweep more sharply, coming to a halt before moving. At the final hurrah, she throws up the two fans, creating two picture-perfect archways over as she bows to the shogun first then the rest of the audience.

Oniyuri's heart thudded in her chest. She had long surrendered the chance to dance and seeing this broke a barrier in her mind: Oniyuri could do _anything_ , and there wasn't anything to stop her but herself. She could jump, she could dance, she could _run_.

Oniyuri wasn't a centenarian anymore; she was a newborn with the world in her hands.


	6. 1 - Ritual Chapter 6

She'd caught sight of herself in passing dirty windows, the occasional puddle and other untrustworthy reflections. Back in Earth, where Oniyuri was born, she could vaguely remember a mirror at Hanabi's place, but they had left the day after and she was still adjusting to a new body.

Oniyuri could draw conclusions by what she could see and comparing various clan members, with Hanabi being the base template. Hanabi had the clan hair; dark, straight, and lacked the glossy texture that was highly common in Japan. Her nose was wider at the base, and had a slightly thicker bottom lip, but still retained the traditional Lightning Country facial structure of narrow eyes, monolid, and round face. Her hair was in a half-upsweep, the outer layers pinned back with a hair clip at the base of her neck, leaving the rest of her hair to fall naturally. Her eyes were a dark black.

Asagao had similar features, but her lips were poutier, and her facial structure was more soft and cute than Hanabi's. She styled her hair in a pin straight, with the ends loosening to show a little curl. She wore supersized round glasses, and her eyes were a strange, piercing blue.

Ajisai's eyes were alike, a little less bright but still blue. It eliminated the chance that Asagao was wearing contacts, because their eyes were not seen inside the clan. Ajisai was too young to give definition to his facial structures, but he was a good weight for a twelve month year old, and his hair was often gathered in a hair tie at the top of his head, leaving a palm tree for hair and Oniyuri a great source for constant amusement.

Oniyuri fared no better, with her hair gathered and tied in the same way every day. Yet this was something she knew superficially, and it wasn't until the Suiei clan arrived at their hotel in Hot Water Country's Yugakure that Oniyuri got to see a proper mirror. Oniyuri's skin was far lighter than the average tone in the clan; that she knew. Other members tended towards a lightly diluted Lightning Country skin tone, while Oniyuri's was solidly in the half-Fire Country and half-Lightning Country range. Her nose was far slimmer than anyone she had seen in the clan; this was no doubt the genes from her father coming into play. Oniyuri's hair shone slightly in the light and was much thinner, yet the volume was a weak echo of Hanabi's. Overall, her face screamed Fire Country but her hair still had traits from Lightning Country.

Oniyuri stayed in front of the mirror for ten minutes, drinking in the sight of her new body. Eyes wide (dark black, an exact copy of Hanabi) she poked and prodded her face. It was strange to have a young body again, let alone a body she could not find a common feature on. Scottish with Dutch genes had no place in Oniyuri's body. She had no argument against that; Oniyuri's body was her and she had to accepted that.

"Oniyuri?" Ajisai called behind her, waddling inside the open rooms of the hotel. The place was a replica of a traditional paper screen buildings common across Japan, and with the long nails both Ajisai and Oniyuri had they could easily access any room by sliding their fingers between the gaps. Ajisai had a physical limitation of not being able to walk, but to Oniyuri the world was open again. "What are you doing?"

"Mirror." She gestured to the rectangular shape that was clearly in his view. He was already sitting at the low-lying tables, her calligraphy set open and already under attack from his grubby, clumsy hands. She could foresee ink splatters, ripped paper, ruined brushes, and quickly took the tools from his hands before Ajisai could progress any further. He gave her a pout as he watched her pour the ink into the suzuri and roll the brushes out from the protective roll. Ajisai could settle the paper and weight fine and did so as soon as Oniyuri left the tools in front of him.

"Write what you say." She instructed, and sat back to think of a question. Ajisai picked up the brush, hovering over the ink, ready. "Why so skilled at spoken? And not anything else?" He dipped the brush and brought it over the paper, patiently accepting Oniyuri's attempts to fix his arm into a better position.

"My job is maths. I deal with highly abstract mathematical concepts, so the only thing I would write would be maths. My position was obscure but in high demand so I travelled a lot, and ended up in Japan more often than not." He took a pause here, letting his writing catch up to what he was saying. "I did intend on learning how to read and write Japanese, but I died before I could do so."

Oniyuri watched what he wrote absent-mindedly, checking that his characters were right and he utilised the correct stroke order. Just as he finishes his sentence, she speaks up.

"I grew up with anime." She waited until he began to write what she spoke. "I've always wanted to learn Japanese. In high school I was introduced to music from across Asia, so I branched out. My classes always required me to speak, listen, read and write."

"What was your job?"

"I had too many to count, honestly. Excluding high school jobs, I was a model, a translator, an accountant." Ajisai missed the extra dash at the top of one of his characters, to which she pointed out silently and he fixed without question. She scrambled for a topic. "I retired, and was living out my last days in a nursing home. I remember celebrating my 102th birthday, and a few other days, here and there. I think I passed away in my sleep."

Ajisai's brush did not falter, but Oniyuri recognised the pinched lines around his eyes. He was off-put by the topic. _Oops,_ she thought, but he replied before Oniyuri could think of anything else.

"I remember driving… being reckless… no doubt speeding but I can't remember…" Ajisai carefully sets the brush down and his gaze vanishes into the distance, the details of the artwork opposite of him non-existent as he scavenged through his memories. "I know it was a car crash, I remember the pain before it cut off… but it doesn't make sense."

Ajisai frowned. Oniyuri leans forward, about to place her hand on his shoulders before he snatches up the brush again. Instead of writing characters, the rest of the page is filled with wonky mathematics, with numerals only occasionally appearing.

Oniyuri watched him, interested, but after he reached for the third page it was obvious that it would take him a while, so she observed the room around. Her bed, a small set up beside Hanabi's, was a tiny futon. Somehow, even in winter, it was blissfully warm.

Beside the magical quilts was a book; her ninja book, to be precise. Oniyuri cast a look at Ajisai – who was on his fifth page now – and walked over to her bed, dragging the thick novel closer. She settled in, wrapping herself up and eyeing the cover.

The characters on the front were ones she recognised but could not string together a coherent sentence from it. This was only the start of the problems with this devil of a book; after a few questions to Hanabi, it seemed like book wasn't written in a feudal Japanese, but the native Japanese. Native to the Elemental Lands. While it was still fundamentally Japanese, there was grammar, vocab, characters that developed differently from Japanese, leaving Oniyuri with the frustration of not understanding half a sentence. And while that might pass for someone at Ajisai's level, for someone who could read like a native speaker it was frustrating. More than frustrating; it called forth a wave of self-loathing from the lack of progress she was having with the book.

From what she could muddle through, this book was a gold-mine for information about ninjas. Written in the early Warring Clans Era, the novel lacked any bias towards the Hidden Villages, partly because they did not exist back then. The author desperately tried to eradicate bias towards the clans, but it was a tough job because all they had to rely on was information handed to them by the clans themselves.

Oniyuri went over the last few paragraphs she translated, and got through two more chapters. These chapters were for laying the foundation of something more, something that she could feel that would happen soon. The book almost read like a fantasy novel if it wasn't for the formal, academic tone.

The writer explained his intensions through the Author Notes, a detailed speculation of the origin of ninja and chakra. They went through what they knew of history, and put a little more effort in describing the history of the ninja clans. Senju and the Uchiha featured heavily, but Chinoike, Houki and a multitude of other clans were mentioned and their actions alongside.

Oniyuri ran her finger over the text, feeling the raised ink. The paper was leatherier than the other books she had borrowed, a testimony to its age. The pages weren't smooth; small wrinkles dancing across the page like immortalised lightning. Whenever she opened or closed the book, the spine would groan and complain. It was beautiful, but Oniyuri honestly felt like she should be wearing gloves whenever she handled it.

The sound of furious scribbling and muttering from the centre of the room had dropped off, Oniyuri realised, and she sat up, the futon falling off her shoulders. Ajisai sat staring at the paper, eyes wide and yet was a tiny exhausted dot against the vibrancy of life. For a moment, Oniyuri could see his past life crushing his shoulders, grinding him into nothing.

"Ajisai?" she called, wary.

"Oniyuri," he sighs, and very slowly closes his eyes, face screwing up like he had a colossal headache. "It wasn't a car… _accident_."

Oniyuri padded over where he was, picking up the pages of abstract maths with her tiny hands. That was a probability equation; she could see something in the messy calligraphy that could mean physics, but for the most part she failed to comprehend. Not only was a baby trying to write with a paint brush, but the maths was absurdly complex.

Oniyuri's kimono shifted, and she realised that Ajisai had reached out and grabbed a fistful of her clothes. His eyes now held a touch of terror, something that had unsettled Ajisai so deeply that it shook him to the core.

"I was _murdered._ " Ajisai gasped. Oniyuri could feel the fabric across her chest tighten and tighten until Ajisai dragged her closer. Hesitantly, she dropped her arms around his shoulders. He was highly sensitive to touch, with hugs being his worst enemy. Yet when Oniyuri kneeled to be on his level he dropped his head onto her shoulder.

Ajisai was trembling, very slightly, and for the first time since she had arrived to this world, Oniyuri was shaken.

Oniyuri never had kids in her past life, and despite being a hit at children birthday parties and being a wonderful Aunt, she never really needed to comfort anybody, even if they weren't young themselves. She had offered advice for friends, but that was more for relationship problems (even though she had never married anyone).

Comforting Ajisai on his death? Well, that was just a little outside of her experience.

She led him over to her futon, throwing the blanket around his shoulders. He wasn't crying, and didn't look close to it, but he was deathly still. Oniyuri dragged over the koto in the corner, sliding on the plectra on her thumb, index and middle finger.

The koto was the only instrument Oniyuri could successfully play. The shamisen required her arms to be longer and she found the shakuhachi uncomfortable to blow. However, the koto had its own challenges; half of the skills required was the over-dramatic performance and not to mention Oniyuri occasionally lost her balance over the instrument. Kigiku had given her a worn and used koto, just so Oniyuri wouldn't feel so bad at falling on top of it.

She looked at Ajisai, curled up in her blanket. A distraction would work, right?

"I'm going to play a very famous song from my youth. Perhaps you'd know it." She told him, and he barely moved. _Ok, hard audience_ , she took a breath and ran over the first few bars of the song, ensuring that she knew the first leg prior.

The song was Seven Nation Army, of course, as the guitar riff was simplistic but memorable for first-time players. It was one of the few English sons that Kigiku had taught her, with other famous songs in her repertoire.

They had discovered, a few koto lessons in, that Oniyuri had experience in choir and her new voice was not that bad. Choral pieces were hard to come by in the Elemental Nations, but they were always a hit with the audience when sung properly. And thus Oniyuri was enlisted in another set of classes, although this class she was not averse to participating. She had been in a choir all the way up to her death, after all.

Seven Nation Army was probably appropriate for this situation, Oniyuri justified. It was about not letting anyone get in your way, and, well, Ajisai could use that. When she finished the song, she looked up and saw that he was now paying her active attention. An improvement.

"I'm not really into pop songs," he admitted. "My taste is classical." She adjusted her playlist, and continued on. These, at least, did not have lyrics.

Hanabi and Asagao found them like that: Ajisai sitting opposite Oniyuri as she played, her quilt around his shoulders like a cloak. They joined in for a few songs, to which Asagao requested several pop songs from the early 2000s, and Hanabi preferred classic 80s, all of which Ajisai did not know.

"We should go to bed now." Hanabi stretched, shifting from one leg to the other in an attempt to wake them up. "We're leaving for Lightning Country tomorrow." Ajisai yawned at her words, holding up his arms so Asagao could scoop him up. When Oniyuri turned away from putting the koto back she caught his disgruntled face. Either it was towards the tight hug Asagao had on him, or how exhausted his tiny body was. Oniyuri could relate on the latter reason.

She shuffled over to her futon, gloriously warm from Ajisai's body heat, waving him goodbye. The ninja book was still beside her; open on the page she had abandoned. She closed it and ran her hands over the imprinted kanji on the cover, a small goodnight to an inanimate object.

Hanabi woke her the next day, the last wisps of a dream vanishing as Oniyuri took in the bright sunlight shining through the door. The hotel's courtyard was trifle with Suiei members, rolls and carriages and people. Oniyuri pulled herself out of the futon, hurrying over to get the winter cloak from where Hanabi had prepared it. It did not have any residue heat from yesterday, so for a few minutes Oniyuri could still feel the cold bite of the air as she rolled up her futon and sweeped the room for odds and ends.

Once everything was sealed into Hanabi's scroll, they visited Asagao's room so they could strap Ajisai onto her back and Oniyuri onto Hanabi's. They joined the congestion in the courtyard, chatting with other members as Oniyuri took the chance for a small nap. It was difficult to sleep when travelling, and with her tiny body it demanded constant rest.

They began to move, trickling out of Yugakura until they hit the outskirts. There they picked up speed and Oniyuri was shaken from her doze. She watched the scenery go by, already used to the long hours of travelling.

She wondered what they'd do in Lightning Country. With it being such a large country it would take two months to travel the land. Afterwards they'd hop on a boat, visit the few small towns in Whirlpool Country, and then travel across Water, hoping from island to island.

Oniyuri wanted to pick up dancing next; she had already begun a few basic dances to get used to her new body. She had a long time before she got to the practised fluidic style she honed in her previous life, but she probably wouldn't achieve that until after puberty.

Thinking about dancing triggered the memory of watching Kiku dance for the first time. Iron would always remain a mystical place simply because watching the show was spectacular. The next goal, a life achievement, a skill that Oniyuri would hone for the rest of her life, was to learn the clan's technique. It wasn't every day you became a water bender, and she wanted to do it _gracefully_.

If that meant months of straight practice, then so be it.

They passed through to Lightning Country with little fanfare; the destination they would be resting overnight was one hour from the border. A town on the smaller side, the Clan wouldn't be holding any official performances. The down side of such a small location was the lack of a hotel capacity to welcome all of the clan. The clan couldn't even split into two groups, Hanabi explained, instead, we'd be peppered around the town.

"Kiku's requested for Asagao and I to join her." She turned her head slightly, a smile curling at the edges of her mouth. "I think you'll be shown how to access your chakra." It seems like today and yesterday was full of surprises, both unpleasant and welcome. She could feel herself copying Hanabi's smile, her mind soaring with imagination. They'd only be staying her overnight, and there were enough hours left in the day for it all to go down _tonight_.

Hanabi only stopped at their room briefly to let Oniyuri down and settle their belongings. Together they pulled out the futons to allow them to breathe before they returned, and Oniyuri, almost vibrating from excitement and anticipation, tore out of the hotel without a second thought.

Hanabi found her a second later, just outside their door, waiting for directions to Kiku's room. Kiku's room was between Hanabi's and Asagao's, with a guard in the bracketing rooms. Oniyuri knocked politely, and Hanabi opened the door when Kiku's voice could be faintly heard through the door.

There was already steaming cups sitting on the table, five in total. From the smell it was green tea, a taste Oniyuri still loathed in this life. Nevertheless, she settled on one of the pillows, hands naturally settling around the ceramic cup. She looked at Kiku with admiration.

"I know you hear this a lot," she begins, probably too softly, loudly or quickly. She couldn't tell herself; her voice sounded stupidly squeaky. "But I am in _awe_ of your dancing."

"It sounds like you have a background in dancing?" She answered, taking the compliment with a (small, graceful, pretty) smile.

"Self-taught." Oniyuri hastily answered. Kiku waited. Shyly, she ducked her head as she tacked on "…It's entirely K-pop. With the occasional J-pop and traditional Japanese dance."

"I am sure you could use those." Oniyuri could, and will, strongly disagree. The dances the clan used were more abstract, more traditional. Something you'd see on a private stage paid by millionaires, not on stages surrounded by screaming fans. Her opinion must've shown on her face because Kiku calmly continued. "The dance I performed for the opening act in Iron isn't done every night. Iron Country is heavily traditional, so the acts run were changed to suit their preferences. Lightning Country, on the other hand, _loves_ hip-hop. I know K-pop finds heavily influence from hip-hop, and those dances are always well-received."

Kiku smiles down at Oniyuri, placing a hand on her wrist. "Don't worry; all styles are welcome." At that smile, Oniyuri felt her respect and love for Kiku shoot through the roof. At her words, Oniyuri felt relieved. Apparently she had been much more worried about her dancing experience than she thought.

"I hear you also sing?" Oniyuri brightens at the mention of choirs. There weren't many vocalists in the Suiei Clan, a shocking lack that needed, in her opinion, to be changed. She always loved to sing, and this new body had an angelic voice.

Asagao and Ajisai joined them soon enough and the five of them had a riveting conversation about the skills Oniyuri and Ajisai had. Ajisai had little to no talent in anything Art, from singing to dancing. His mathematical genius was something that Kiku was interested in, she admitted; typically, the books of the Clan were managed by a small army of people but having Ajisai at the head could lead into new things. In her previous life, singing and dancing was nothing more than a hobby; something she devoted an indefinite time and attention to, but never evolved into something that paid the bills. She was elastic at the chance to change that.

Eventually, the conversation wound down. Kiku excused Hanabi and Asagao, the two of them leaving with a bow. Oniyuri's hands clenched around the cup, feeling every fibre as she was finally awarded for her patience. A quick glance to the side showed that Ajisai's face looked blank; focused and concentrated. He was ready too.

"Now," Kiku begins, gathering the cups to set them aside. She settled down and held out her hands. "I hope that Hanabi and Asagao have told you why you are here." Both Oniyuri and Ajisai nod dutifully.

"Opening your chakra is something that is importance for this clan. Not only will you need to use it when travelling, but when performing our clan technique, it is vital. Please, link hands." Kiku's hand was much larger than Oniyuri's; she could wrap her entire fist around her pinky. She reached out to Ajisai, his grip much tighter than she was used to. "I know that some of us here might not believe in meditation, but to unlock your chakra you need to be prepared."

She closed her eyes to the darkness, her eyes imagining streaks of black and white. She could still feel everything around her: from the pedestrian traffic outside the window to the smell of Oniyuri's untouched green tea, her mind was still open to the world. Kiku continued to talk.

"I will use my own chakra to awaken your coils. You will feel something travelling down your arm and reach for your gut. Chakra is comprised of physical and mental energies; the common technique used by ninjas is to combine these to create _ninjutsu_. They use the physical energy to booster their _taijutsu_ and use the mental energy to create _genjutsu_. Our ancestors discovered that through our excessive mental energy we could create another use: to control water. Earth is too solid to effect, air, fire and lightning are too fleeting to contain; water is perfect for us."

It crept up on Oniyuri – the feeling of something tiny, something tinner than ants, slithering, gliding and crawling all at once up her arm. It had a pace and it stuck to it; at the shoulder it moved south, down, down, down. It circled around somewhere in her gut, and something began to itch.

Her body felt like her nails when she struck them in a peculiar angle; it felt like TV static; it felt like when she bit down on something that made her teeth scream from sensitivity. Then, it vanished, and in its place unfurled a warmth that washed away everything. The green tea smell slapped her awake, a loud saleswomen taking the moment to join. When she opened her eyes, the room was over-saturated with vivid colours.

Kiku was done but she continued to hold their hands. Oniyuri watched as Ajisai rediscovered the world with chakra, taking joy in his euphoria. Her chakra ebbed and flowed, growing like an unleashed tsunami. She looked over to Kiku, giving her the silliest grin.

"Thank you,"

Kiku simply smiled.


	7. 1 - Ritual Chapter 7

There was a person next to her, someone that she knew was Ajisai. She couldn't _see_ , but could feel presences around her, and a narrator filtered information directly to her thoughts. She instinctively knew they were in Earth Country, at the coastal floating village in which she regained her memories. She couldn't hear the waves, or the noise of a three-hundred strong clan; she couldn't feel her body or the wood under her knees as she leaned over the pier.

But there she was, Ajisai beside her, hand hovering over the sea.

Ajisai told her to slap it, in the voiceless, narrator-fed style that everyone but her took on. The words were directly implanted in her brain instead of her ears picking up on vibrations of the air. She opened her mouth to reply, but the dream was already slipping out her hands, the faint wisps fleeing in the presence of a thunderous drum beat.

Oniyuri opened her eyes to the darkness captured by her quilt. Other noises began to press down on her: the chattering of villagers, the sizzle of street vendor BBQs, a quiet huff of air as Hanabi rolled up her futon. With a sigh, she threw her arms out, effectively pushing the quilt of her head and further down her body. Her eyes prickling from the harsh light, Oniyuri joins Hanabi in cleaning the room for the day.

The town they were staying in was just a few hours from the capital, Kumo, and had the strongest foot traffic Oniyuri had seen so far. It had a tradition of a morning gong at 7am, but the citizens of Kawamoto were active long before the heartbeat resounded through the walls of the hotel.

With her chakra unlocked, Oniyuri could use its supportive capabilities to push her body to new limits. This included being able to walk anywhere she wanted, despite the body's age. By using her physical energy, Oniyuri could walk all day and not get tired. This lifted the burden of carrying her everywhere off Hanabi, something they took advantage of every day since discovered.

They were out of the hotel in thirty minutes, Oniyuri's fist clenched around Hanabi's finger. It was clan rule that Oniyuri had to be escorted around town for an indefinite amount of time. While her intelligence and wisdom was beyond any child, her physical abilities were just as weak. All the wit in the world couldn't save you from a kidnapper, civilian or no.

Kawamoto was bright and cheerful, dense streets packed with two story buildings. The lower floors were always stores and restaurants, with the floor above being lodgings and private spaces. The streets were wide enough to accommodate for the store fronts and heavy traffic; Oniyuri and Hanabi could walk past anyone without bumping shoulders.

They wondered from stall to stall, Oniyuri easily taking on the awed child as she swivelled her head to take it all it. She couldn't see much from her height, but she could see the signs of a tourist destination; signs claiming cheap prices, exact replicas of souvenirs sold at every stall, at least three stalls claiming they sold the town's speciality. After a while, Oniyuri got bored of the same-old, same-old, and Hanabi brought her off the main streets to the local streets, where the stores were less blatant and sold unique clothes between the regular prices for fresh fruit and veggies.

They were passing a stall, having just bought squid leg skewers to give their jaw a work out, when Oniyuri saw a yukata shop. The clan clothes were by no means cheap and nasty, but they only came in three patterns, dark blue with the clan symbol on the upper shoulders, white with porcelain blue flowers and the winter kimono, which only came in the dark blue colour. And well, what Oniyuri was staring at was something _not_ that.

Hanabi made a question of noise, but Oniyuri continued to walk without saying anything. Not many people wear yukatas that weren't the clan clothes, partly because why would you? The clan clothes were there, ready for the taking. The only people Oniyuri could think of was Asagao and Kigiku. Kigiku _always_ wore extremely formal kimonos, somehow surviving through heat. Asagao preferred to wear colourful yukatas when it was summer and elaborate kimonos for winter.

It was too young for Oniyuri to really be picky about her clothing; she'd shoot up over the next ten years, there was no reason to buy anything.

"Hmm," Hanabi says, and checks the sun. "I think your lessons will begin soon." Oniyuri looks up to her caretaker. Her next lesson was this afternoon with Kigiku, where they'd begin to test the capabilities of her voice. Nevertheless, she allowed Hanabi to pick her up and walk back to the hotel. They must've been late for Hanabi to pick her up.

Hanabi navigates the hotel with ease. It's a wonder how she hasn't gotten lost, although this place seemed to be adequately labelled. Hanabi knocks and opens the door in one move, and it opens to an upright scroll. Oniyuri, already standing on her own feet, can only see a hand holding it steady and the other hand holding the page out. That hand drops, and its library boy. His name is Himawari, as she discovered a few months ago, and his body is ten years old. Mentally, he is twenty-five; in his last life she was an aspiring librarian and in this life he continues his passion.

But Oniyuri had no knowledge of him ever holding _classes_. It would be interesting to study under someone who knew so much from reading every book he could get his hands on. He waves them over, mouth silenced by a single slice of bread. He quickly chews through the last of it, and holds out his hand to Oniyuri.

"Welcome! I hear you're here to take my class on the Clan's _kekkei genkai_?" he looks around and turns a puzzled look to Hanabi. "Isn't there another?"

Taking a shot in the dark, Oniyuri answers "Ajisai?"

A knock on the door takes care of that, Asagao with Ajisai on her hip slipping in. Himawari claps once and beams at Ajisai, gesturing for him to sit next to Oniyuri. As he's making himself comfortable, Hanabi comes over with two bowls of water.

"Oh, forgot about those." Himawari chuckles and carefully rolls up his scroll and sets it aside. Far aside. "Alright, we will begin. Please pay attention to me, and as usual, don't repeat this to anyone outside the clan."

He gives them a serious look, a strange mask on a sunflower as he adjusts the two bowls before him.

"You've already been taught this, but I'll go over it again. In this world there is an occupation called ninja. These people are not full of silly tricks of the past, they use chakra to control the world around them. They have three styles: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. First, I will show you how to control your chakra."

He puts a hand into each bowl, fingers barely breaking the surface.

"Your body naturally produces two energies: physical," here he draws his left hand out of the bowl, a small blob of water following his fingers until a small orb of liquid rests in his palm. "and mental." He does the same with the right, but this time it is several times larger than the 'physical' energy.

"Because of our past lives, our physical energy is always servilely outweighed by mental. Oniyuri, because you're over a century old, your energies are extremely outweighed. Ajisai, your mental energy is extremely high for someone who lived as long as you did. It is either because of high intelligence or a traumatic death." Himawari pauses there, giving him a look over, as if he just realised what he said. "To create chakra, you mix physical and mental energy together. Because of our disproportionate energy stores, it's a little complex."

He drops his right hand back into the bowl, the orb draining away until it's about the same size as the left hand. He slowly brings his hands together, the two orbs merging together.

"To make it simple: you'll have to do a lot of control exercises if you want to use chakra." He shrugs with accepted defeat. "Now that you know what chakra is, let's talk about what you can do with it." The water returns to the bowls, nary a ripple at the inclusion of more liquid. Spectacular.

"The first type of art is ninjutsu. This style uses a perfect mix of physical and mental energies. There are a hundred thousand of ninjutsu in the world, with more being created as we speak. They can do anything as long as the caster has enough chakra. There are five main elemental releases: earth, air, fire, water and lightning. I am going to demonstrate a water release." Himawari shapes his hands in a peculiar way, three in rapid succession.

"Water release: hiding in the mist." He says, voice ringing clearly through the room. The water before him vanishes, and in its place, a thick fog develops. The room has no windows, there's no such thing as spray bottles here and the air is extremely dry. _Wow_ , Oniyuri raises her hand at bats at the air in front of her, like it would do anything. _I want to do that._

"A person's chakra is shaped to suit one type of elemental release, although with effort they can use other elements. The next style is taijutsu. Taijutsu is martial arts with the added bonus of chakra with favour towards physical energy. With chakra, human beings are able to push physical limits, such as jumps, endurance and strength. I can attest, I saw a drunkard ninja knock down a wall with a sloppy slap." Himawari's shape slowly comes back into focus, but the fog is still thick as ever.

"Finally, genjutsu. Genjutsu is cast by chakra with favour towards mental energy, and implants illusions and suggestions into the target's mind. Here, imagination is the limit, although to be a master you have to be a _grand_ master of subtlety, as there is a quick and easy way of dispelling a genjutsu."

The fog had almost vanished by then, and Himawari handed the bowls to Hanabi. Asagao hands him a cup of water which he downs in one go. Hanabi returns with full bowls, settling them on the floor as he launches forward with another speech.

"In this world, there are clans. Clans can range from family to merchant groups, but the most common being families, which we're going to focus on today. Clans typically start out as several branches of a family, however with the introduction of chakra it has become something more. While not strictly limited, ninja clans have a special biological mutation, which they call kekkei genkai, or in English, bloodline. Some are more physical than others, like the Yuki clan of Water Country. They have a special elemental release of snow. Some are more support, like the Uzumaki's naturally larger chakra reserves and extended stamina."

"Our kekkei genkai isn't technically classified as a bloodline, as anyone who has large mental reserves can learn it, but to protect our secret we've classified it as one. So unless you want people after you, keep this a secret!"

His hands drop to the bowls again.

"By simply using our mental energy, the Suiei Clan has discovered we can control water. With limitations, of course. It eats through your chakra like any other jutsu, and it must be in contact with our bodies. Yes, we can control other elements, but it's extremely, _extremely_ hard. To begin," the bowls are pushed towards them, one of Oniyuri and one for Ajisai. "Try and get a feel of your chakra."

Oniyuri finds it easily; after Kiku unblocked it, it rumbled under her skin like a tidal wave, waiting to be used. When she discovered she could bolster her body she routinely called forth the force, although she wasn't sure if it was physical, mental or chakra. It was like figuring out her new body; which muscle to twitch to get it moving, how much strength she should use, and other fine-tuning. At this point, she carefully increased the flow to her hand, and looked up to Himawari.

"Touch the water, and try to 'catch' it." He directs her hand to the bowl. "Spread the chakra over your palm." She does as she's told, and dips her hand into the bowl, hand flat as a board. She throws out her chakra, no doubt wildly and chaotically. For a second, she could've sworn it got caught on something, but when she drew her hand out, nothing happened other than a wet hand.

Frowning, Oniyuri returned her hand, and focused on the energy inside her.

She'd seen its effects, from the mist in the room to Kiku's dance, and she's felt it rolling inside her since she's had access to it. Her body can last longer now thanks to it, and by all rights her extensive mental chakra should make this easy.

What had she been calling it? An ocean? A tidal wave inside? A tsunami ready to hit? Well, if she had already been using a metaphor, then she could extend it further.

Water joining water. Caught! Not in a net, but joining a larger pool of its own. This water in the bowl wasn't just water, it was _her_ water, and it need to follow her hand.

Very slowly, she withdraws her hand. She can feel something stuck on her hand, and she very slowly opens her eyes. She didn't even realise she had closed them.

There was her hand, half in water. The top her hand was wet, but the palm had a glob of water, something that physics would've made the bowl claim. She had done it!

Her concentration broke, water falling back into the bowl with a slap, but Oniyuri didn't care.

"I'm a water bender!" she shouted, flinging her hands up in the air, her sentence trailing off in a cackle. "LONG AGO THE FOUR NATIONS LIVED IN HARMONY-"

Kumo was, in every way, much, much, much larger than Kawamoto. From the sheer size of the protective walls told everything to Oniyuri, but inside it was a more detailed story. Buildings were now at an average three stories high, and there was just as many shops as people. The streets were narrower, crowds were now a constant presence and pain. Prices were more or less the same but Hanabi could never find the locals-only streets, and any attempt at doing so only led into more tourist streets.

Kumo was the heart of Lightning Country; the trading centre, the cultural hot-spot, the highest concentration of population. This was a town in the tens of thousands. And while in her past life that was bare minimum, here it was something _else_. Hanabi said it wasn't even the largest.

Oniyuri stared down at her glass of milk, wondering what the day would bring her. Music lessons, first in koto then choir, followed by her usual miserable attempts at water bending, and in the afternoon she would try and sneak a place in a dance lesson. A lot of clan members would be out tonight, intending on mingling with the citizens of Kumo. There was a reason why the clan still heavily retained their Lightning features, and any visit to Kumo was a huge help in that avenue.

With so many people out, she could slip into a class, and ask the teacher a few questions either when she got booted out or when it ended. She hoped it was when the class ended. It was only on how to develop her body to get ready for dancing, but a few hours watching a class she hoped to attend wouldn't hurt in the long run.

When she rose from the table, milk finished and a milkstache stained, Hanabi returned to the room, holding something behind her. She had been missing since she had woken up, and her hiding something behind her back was just _asking_ for questions.

"Oniyuri!" Hanabi mischievously grinned, smoothly dropping to her knees in front of her, arms still behind her body. "Do you know what today is?"

"I don't know what the calendar is like here." She retorts, slightly leaning her body to the right. Hanabi moved the package in reply.

"Well…" she whipped out the page, face beaming. "It's been a year since your ritual!"

 _Oh_. Oniyuri looks down at the package. It's not wrapped, and it's cloth, so it's some sort of clothes. Hanabi dutifully unfolds it, a child's yukata now in her arms. The colours range from dark blue to blue to white, with stars and moons printed over the dark blue. One sleeve is strangely white with blue stars. From the length, it's a yukata for a child aged five to twelve.

"Oh," Oniyuri runs her hands over the fabric. It's not as high quality as a kimono but it isn't any yukata pulled from the rack. She thinks back to the time she paused in front of a yukata shop and draws the connection. "Hanabi, _thank you_."

She launches herself at her caretaker over the yukata, one foot accidently landing on her knee and the other one jarring Hanabi's hip. Despite that, Hanabi's arms surround Oniyuri without argument, drawing her in close.

"No worries," she murmurs. "I could only get a yukata for a five-year-old, so you'll have to wait a bit to wear it." Oniyuri hugs her tighter and then lets go, sliding back onto the floor to run her hand over the pattern again. The stars aren't stitched in, they're printed, but it's the first _gift_ she's received since she's become Oniyuri. Hanabi chuckles, and slowly folds it back up.

"Come on, the day is starting." she seals it into a scroll, ready for when Oniyuri grows to fit it. The gift follows Oniyuri around the entire day, and she feels like she got an injection of pure energy. In koto lessons, she bangs away at songs, completing them in 1.5x the original speed. In choir she's too happy to properly sing the sorrowful pieces, but Kigiku simply adjusts the piece they were working on. When she was with Himawari, she's overcome with a strong sense of concentration, and by the end of the lesson she is able to define what is mental energy and what is physical.

The time comes for dancing lessons to start and Oniyuri is almost afraid her energetic levels would make her too easy to notice, but she goes ahead because why wouldn't people notice a twelve-month-old anyway. The teacher takes note of her and simply rolls their eyes, continuing on with her lesson. Oniyuri finally buckles down and tries to sooth the giddiness inside, with some successful results.

They're talking about Georgian and hip hop styles; Kumo adores hip hop and Georgian dancing is dancing to the extreme. Oniyuri is curious as to what Georgian dancing is, and is rewarded with a demonstration from the teacher.

He starts with a leap and lands on his _knees_ , and is up on his two feet in one smooth motion. His feet are like a blur, controlled steps done so fast they're a distortion. At one point, he demonstrates his spins, which he does so fast it looks like he's teleporting across the room, his T-pose facing the opposite direction as soon as you see his face, and then his face is back again. It's insane, and Oniyuri absolutely loves the prospect of it.

There's more, but at that point it's the teacher calling forth the class and going through a few exercises with them. Oniyuri retreats to the back of the room, taking a moment to slowly go through a dance she remembers from her previous life.

Georgian and hip hop was about control, Oniyuri decides. You need to have control over your body to stop limbs mid-move effectively, to jump back up when you've landed on your knees. Traditional Japanese dancing was _grace_. There was no fast movement, and if there was, it isn't on the level of skill hip hop needed. You needed fluidity and elegance to do traditional properly, much like abstract. Which is why her repertoire of dances were limited to K-pop. Japanese dancing didn't interest her like the snap-snap-snap of mainstream Korean music.

Mid turn, and Oniyuri almost face-plants into a burly man's leg. It's the dance teacher.

"That was Lucifer, wasn't it." He greets. "You remember? What else?"

Oniyuri recalled the (one-sided) conversation with Kiku about her previous life. Despite that, she could feel her face burning as she mumbled a condensed version of all the songs she knew.

The dance teacher hmmed, and nodded like he approved. He gestured to the main class, made up of students of five years old.

"I expect you to join as soon as you can. Unfortunately, you have to be five." He says the last sentence like it's the greatest sin, not a small downside. Oniyuri giggles, despite herself, and when he finally walks away she returns to her dance.

It had only been a year since she was handed a new body and a new name. While the Elemental Nations and the Suiei Clan loved to live on the wild side, Oniyuri won't want to go back to her old body. She was happy here, ready to venture into a new life.


	8. 2 - Initiate Chapter 1

She dipped down, bending until her fingers slipped into the bowl of water before her toes. Like twitching a muscle, Oniyuri's mental energy dove through the water, steering large amounts of water into two orbs on each of her palms. When she withdrew to settle into the beginning stance, the water only wobbled slightly.

"Begin," Kigiku calls, and the boy behind the koto begins to pluck. The music is traditional, filled with the rhythmic plucking of strings. Moving to the feel of the tune, Oniyuri danced, drawing arcs in the air with the orbs of water. Careful to keep her movements slow but fluid, she bent her leg to draw a wide semi-circle on the ground with one hand and another in the air with her other.

The dance is easy, something learnt by rote memorisation. What challenged her concentration was the effort to keep the water in her hands and a small smile on her face. She fluidly draws out of her stance and sweeps her left arm to curve around her stomach while the other bends so the back of her hand is above her head. She steps forward several times, accented by the movement of her hips.

As she bent down into a bow, her arms come out of their hold to sweep around her in a double semi-circle. A momentary pause to move the orb to the back of her hand and Oniyuri bounded into a cartwheel, pausing once more to steady herself and to shape the orb on the back of her hand into long blades, like a shark fin growing off her skin.

The dance continued as so. Only the beginning of the dance is given; the rest is made up by Oniyuri herself. She doesn't even attempt any Gregorian moves, her body too young and weak to handle the strain, but she does push her boundaries twice. The cartwheel was one; even though she's nailed it several times, she still loses her balance every now and then. The second time is when speeds up her movement until she's moving twice for every beat of the song. She keeps it up for ten seconds, enough for her assessors to notice, before smoothly ending the dance by dropping down to one knee, the other leg straight. Her upper body was slightly twisted the other way from where her legs were facing and her hands were in the air, a gentle curve in her arms. The water in her hands stretches, her energy lengthening it out to join the other mass of water, connecting the circle together.

The koto player takes it as a sign and switches the song to the final bars, bringing it to a smooth end. The adults around the room gave her a light smattering of applause, conversing lowly among themselves as Oniyuri returns the water to the bowl.

"Oniyuri," Kigiku calls. Oniyuri sank to the floor before her audience: Kigiku and two men flanking the instrumental teacher. Her seiza isn't picture perfect like Kigiku's, and her muscles are worn out from the exercise. She swallows down the urge to pant heavily as the dance teacher spoke.

"What do you think of your dance?"

"I was too boneless in my movements. They were too rounded out – I didn't commit to each step. Also, whenever I manipulated my energy I had to pause to do so. My stamina wouldn't allow me to sing while dancing." Apart from her stamina, Oniyuri had worked hard to ensure that the dance was up to scratch in the three months since she joined the dance class. She also practised hard on her water manipulation, always having a glob of water on her hand if she wasn't sleeping. Despite her dedication (there wasn't must else to _do_ , so practice often happened due to boredom) Oniyuri's dancing level had barely scraped her minimal requirement, and she still hadn't gotten around the problem of moving while manipulating her energy.

"And how do you rate yourself?" said the second man, who Oniyuri had not seen before. He was a Suiei, she could see the common facial features, but his name failed her and she had no idea who he was. He had a very stern face, scowling wrinkles on their way to being defined and lips screwed in a very tight line. Oniyuri ponded the question, reviewing her dance, her age, and her current ability level. It was very hard to say; she, of course, wanted to fail herself, but she had only been dancing for three months, and her body was still only about one and a half years old. It would be impossible for her to be at her own passable grade, but the knowledge of that struggled to change her assessment.

"Three out of ten. Only because of my body." She finally says. The three of them do not move; their piercing, critical stares felt so heavy against her body. For the first time in a while, a bloom of nervousness spiked in her chest. Finally, Kigiku sighed.

"Your body is not even two yet. What you just performed was _extraordinary_ for that. I know that you used physical energy to booster your muscles _and_ manipulated water with mental energy. Furthermore, what you performed was excellent. You also have a good grasp on the beat of the music and how to pace yourself to it. _I_ would personally say eight out of ten, perhaps even nine." She let out a pained sigh.

"Oniyuri, please listen to me: your body will hold you back for _years_. Puberty will mess it up further. You may be used to your old body, but your new body is still growing. _You need to keep that in mind._ If you push, and push, and push, then you will wear yourself out and possibly _damage_ your body." Oniyuri drops her eyes to her hands clenched in her lap. She could almost feel the words rolling off her back, just floating away. But she _needed_ to _listen._ Oniyuri was going to live for at least another eight decades, and she couldn't damage her body _now_ when there was so much she wanted to do.

She imagined taking a hold of those words and imprinting them in her soul. _I can't push my body too far. I can't push my body too far. I_ cannot _push my body too far._

Oniyuri takes a shaky breath. Opening her eyes, she released the tension from her shaking fists.

"Thank you."

She couldn't read the emotion in Kigiku's eyes, but the two men beside her seemed to be satisfied.

"My name is Len," the unfamiliar man dips his upper body forward, Oniyuri copying the bow. "I am the clan's physician and doctor. I monitor all members of the Suiei clan and ensure that both our physical, mental and emotional beings are stable and well-cared for. Oniyuri, you have been on my watch list for some time." She barely felt the bite of embarrassment and shame before the other man continued.

"I, for one, feel like I should apologise. I didn't know you would push your body this far and gave you the incentive to do so. Oniyuri, you need to _slow down._ " Oniyuri dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Kuchinashi, what do you think of Oniyuri's dance?"

"I, uh, think it was bloody brilliant for a two-year-old. I, um, almost thought that she fell over when she cartwheeled." a voice shakily answers the dance master, and it takes a moment for Oniyuri to realise that it was the koto boy. She could vaguely recognise him from past music lessons. When Oniyuri faced the adults again, the dance master is barely masking a ' _you see?'_ The boy suddenly spoke again, confessing his opinions "Although, Magu-san, I really don't think _I'm_ the one to ask-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." the dance master grumbled, shifting to allow one foot out from underneath him and waving his hand in dismissal to the response. "I have another test to go to. Kuchinashi, you too." The boy squeaked in reply, scuttling behind the dance master with the koto balanced in his arm. It was almost humorously as large as he was.

"Shall we go out and enjoy the air?" Kigiku inclined her head toward the open door Magu left, Len humming in contentment as he followed.

* * *

Framed by the traditional paper screens, Oniyuri could see the wiry trees and large rock formations of the hybrid garden. On one side the fine dust was combed to perfection, exact lines untouched since they were done. On the other side, the first breath of spring was winding its way through half-dead trees and bare cobblestone paths. It currently wasn't at its best, dirty puddles from melted snow still littering the dark green lawn. Yet the air carried a crispness that Oniyuri enjoyed, and the caretakers had swept the more popular paths already.

When they exited the room, Oniyuri could feel the eyes of several caretakers, ready to jump if she ran to the zen garden. They did not need to worry.

To keep up the façade of childhood, Oniyuri slipped her hand into Kigiku's, feeling her size again when her whole fist could barely close around two fingers. The path Kigiku chose wound all around the compound, between buildings and feature pieces. She hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy the early flowers yet, and hopping from one cobblestone to another as Kigiku glided beside her. Not far from where they started, a small bird fountain rested in the garden. Despite the murky water collecting around the base, the little trickle of water exiting the top bowl to overflow into the lower levels glittered in the afternoon light.

"I have seen too many people damage their bodies. Sometimes it's immediately noticeable. _Most_ of the time, it isn't apparent until they're thirty again." Kigiku's hand rested between Oniyuri's shoulder blades, a comforting gesture. Oniyuri turned her head away from the little grey bird enjoying a bath to study Kigiku's androgynous face. Seriousness was etched into the eyes (upturned, perfect for throat-cutting eyeliner), into the mouth (thin but wide, always a straight line), into the posture (shoulders back. Always). Kigiku never was the one to crack a joke or tease, rather enjoying life in silence and in music, but at this moment, Oniyuri knew her music teacher was genuinely grave. " _Please_ , Oniyuri, take care of your body."

"I understand." she murmured, significantly cowed. "I didn't realise how much I was pushing my body."

"I have been told you have a great interest in ninjas." the hand drops away from Oniyuri's back, and Kigiku steps away from the bird fountain, continuing along the path back to the hotel. "I take it you wish to join a village?"

"Yes," she admits. Oniyuri felt a little guilty over abandoning her clan so fast, but while dancing and musical instruments were fantastic, she could see where the lifestyle was heading.

It was partly why she jumped from career to career in her previous one; while each job had its own way of life, soon it became autonomous, completing the same actions over and over, nevermind if the loop extended over a month or a year. She was always pursuing something to challenge herself, something new every day for the rest of her life.

And the Suiei clan was everything she couldn't find herself to enjoy in the long run. Despite their lives being out of step from every other human being, to them, it was a normal day to practice controlling water and dancing across the Elemental Nations. Some people enjoyed this secure life. Oniyuri did not.

"While I love the Suiei clan, I admit that I would find more enjoyment as a ninja. I don't know which village to choose, I don't know _exactly_ the lifestyle of ninjas, but I want to become one." She paused. "I've already been told about how much I have to train each day, and the horrors of ninjas, and the brutality of the system, _in detail_." Nanohana and Himawari had made _that_ perfectly clear.

"And you still want to join?" She lifted her head to stare directly into the musical genius' eyes and gave one sharp nod. "Will you continue your classes?" Oniyuri took a deep breath and regaled Kigiku with her plans for the future.

* * *

A few days after her exam found Oniyuri silently packing away her belongings. It was the final move before the next big city, meaning that tomorrow was to be a _long_ day of travelling. She winced as her shoulders and upper thighs quivered at the thought of being strapped to Hanabi's back, but it was the quickest method of transport. The clan travelled abnormally fast for a non-ninja clan, and that required the abnormal method of strapping babies to their mother's back. Secure, yes, comfy? The red indents left by the ropes gave an astounding _no_.

There wasn't much for Hanabi to seal away in her special scroll. Books from the library, her three pairs of chopsticks, and whatever cheap omiyage from previous villages. Her clothes were already packed away, a plain blue yukata for tomorrow laid out at the foot of her futon. There was one last thing she needed, and that was her worn out koto.

She looked across the room, away from her bedspread, to where Ajisai was leaning over her beaten and bruised instrument. Occasionally a note from a plucked string rose from that side of the room, but it was hard to see exactly what the mathematician was doing because his body shielded the koto from her view.

"Ajisai?" she tapped on his shoulder, kneeling down beside him, legs folding under her. Ajisai didn't have the fine control to sit in seiza, and instead, his legs sprawled to the side. "Do you want to learn the koto?"

Ajisai shook his head minutely.

Oniyuri waited for the waterfall of words that always trailed after Ajisai like visible smoke curled around an incense stick, but for the next minute, only the koto spoke, its words weaving a slow melody.

"How about the shamisen? I don't think the shakuhachi would really interest you." a shrug was her only reply. She leaned over the koto slightly, trying to see the shadowed face of the boy beside her. Despite the room's only light source being on the other side of the room, she could see his eyes; staring endlessly through the koto, not a single flicker of movement as one of his fingers twitched over the strings.

"Are you still doing your calligraphy practice?"

The koto stopped, along with Oniyuri's patience. She slapped her hands on his cheeks and forced Ajisai to look at her. The movement made his chubby baby cheeks squish further up his face, and involuntarily she felt her heart automatically melt at the adorable baby face.

"Ajisai, please tell me what's wrong." she shook his head. "You're never this silent, you insufferable maths nut! Where're the insults? Where're the backhanded compliments? Where's your _fire?_ " she leaned forward to stare right back into his vivid blue eyes, also resisting the desire to squeal _cute!_

A haughty sniff, even if it only lasted a second, almost brought tears to her eyes.

"I'm _fine_ ," he grumbles, hands reaching up to her wrists. She gave his head another shake, not saying anything. " _Ok,_ so I might not be! So what!"

"Keep talking like that and I'll rattle the brain cells out of you."

Ajisai grit his teeth, finally ripping his head away from Oniyuri's hands and leaning backwards. Now, instead of nothing, his mouth twisted with discomfort and his eyes narrowed at the walls.

"It's Asagao alright." he snapped, mouth decisively curving downwards. "She's… doing something, _I don't know_ , but, I just feel…"

" _Ugh_." he finished like it explained everything.

"Try in English." she offered, sliding her legs out from under her (ok so she might not have yet mastered seiza, so screw you).

"I just feel trapped, ya know?" he grumbled, heeding her idea. His American accent became immediately noticeable. "She's _always_ there, and just, _offering everything_." he threw his hands up when he saw Oniyuri's confused head tilt.

" _Want some water? Do you want to practice your calligraphy? Don't you want to join the accounting class? Where do you want to go today? Have you made any friends in the clan?"_ his hands came down again, one palm slowly dragging down the middle of his face, the picture of exhaustion.

She visualised Asagao saying these things and tried to include Ajisai into the scene, but it was like a calculator trying to solve the square root of a negative number. Asagao was always overbearing, a little strange from the usual quiet calm of an ordinary Suiei, but there was something about Ajisai's agitation. Something about it that made her realise that she didn't fully understand his problem.

"She's trying to parent you?" was her hazard guess. Asagao seemed to be overly affectionate.

"Exactly!" Ajisai almost roared, standing up in the cute clumsy way that only a baby could look so cute doing so could. He was now almost _fuming_ , already red cheeks growing. If it wasn't for her knowledge, then Ajisai looked like a baby one second away from a full screaming tantrum. "She's _helicopter parenting me! And I DON'T WANT THAT!"_

 _Oh_. The full situation finally dawned on Oniyuri - Ajisai was a fully grown _man_ , not a two-year-old. Asagao was treating him like a baby when he _wasn't_. Hanabi and Asagao weren't Oniyuri and Ajisai's _mothers_ , they were their caretakers. They weren't there to enrol their child to a fun club, they were there as older members and prospective friends to encourage them to find their feet in their new bodies and grow stronger as time went by.

If this continued, Asagao would continue to seriously limit Ajisai's world. Not only was Asagao trying to _teach_ Ajisai like a newborn baby, but she was also slowly cutting Ajisai from other people. Ajisai wasn't really in touch with his feelings, and whatever Asagao was doing was slowly building up a wall around him as Asagao tried to baby him.

To be honest, Oniyuri wondered why the mathematical genius would come to her. After the first introduction classes, they rarely saw each other. Oniyuri was in the dance and music classes while Ajisai was no doubt teaching his teachers maths. Perhaps it was because, for the first year in this world, they were shoved together often. Before Asagao really began to coddle Ajisai, Oniyuri was a person he would see often. Maybe it was because they shared awakening months.

Who knows! Because right in front of her was a distressed human being, who was trying to break out of something before the iron gates swung shut.

"Ajisai," she called, patting the space he vacated. "I understand where you're coming from. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know!" and now the baby tantrum was turning towards a cry fest. His fists clenched his yukata, chin dropping slightly to his chest. "She's just _too_ _much."_

"Ajisai, I _get it._ Asagao isn't treating you like the thirty-something you are. She's forgotten that."

There wasn't anything that Oniyuri could do to help Ajisai except asking someone older for help. But first, Ajisai looked exhausted. His eyes were droopy, rapidly blinking away the rush of emotions. Oniyuri could almost feel her own energy vacating her body too; despite the ability to push her body to the limit with her physical energy, she still needed to sleep just as long as a normal two-year-old.

Planning could wait for tomorrow. It was going to be long anyway, with the entire day booked. Tomorrow they were to arrive at Konohagakure.

* * *

 **It's ya boi, amy.** excited to announce I got a beta! Philo was very kind in helping me sort out what to do with all my chapters and also edited it too. I'm trying to train myself for NaNoWriMo 2019, so I'm trying to write every day. My plan is to update this story and another story of mine (Lucille) every two weeks on alternating Saturdays. I've already written halfway through ch 10 of oniyuri, so even if i get suck I have a little bit of a fallback. I wish you all the best and I honestly thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading this story. See you in two weeks!


	9. 2 - Initiate Chapter 2

**Hey! Quick AN** my email is flooded with people favouring and following this story and me, and honestly my entire emotional being is *confused partying.* Idk why there's been a flood of new people reading (I changed the name and summary and also joined a fanfiction discord?) But honestly this has been a massive boost to my happiness ? thank you all so much ❤️

* * *

The street was swamped with people, but she had no problem weaving through the crowd. At a stunning 2 and a half years old, Oniyuri should still be hanging off the back of her mother. Instead, she carefully inspected marbles and smooth sea glass - an adorable reflection of the adults further down the street where food is sold. It's fun to skip around the stalls like this, an adult pretending to be a child pretending to be an adult. Often she sees the stall owners watching her like a hawk, but she's yet to determine if it's because they're wary of light hands or the lack of parental view.

She asks _the pwice of thith item, pwease_ , waving a bright aqua sea glass, the inner colour almost glowing from the wave's treatment and the sun hitting it just right. The owner chuckles and lets her have it for a hundred yen. The older woman must have an eye of fabric quality because while her yukata isn't ragged, it doesn't shout money from five metres away.

Oniyuri carried onto the next stall, spotting Konoha's signature dish, vivid red toffee apples, lining the front rows. She's already had one, the first day in the Leaf Village, and while it's a flashback to another life, she doesn't pursue it anymore. And anyway, they preferred to use green apples instead of red. Toffee apples aren't the same if its Granny Apples.

She slipped the sea glass into her small handbag, feeling around for her other pieces of loot; a whistle in the shape of a monkey, a marble the size of her fist with a little mysterious spark inside, a small painting of the Hokage mountain neatly folded, a dark brown and ocean blue friendship bracelet, and finally the rest of her money. Most of the omiyage she'll give to other children of other villages, something to interest them so they won't notice she's not really a child. It's a tactic she's long developed.

The stalls are numerous but the stock begins to repeat itself soon enough. Now that the bright colours weren't so inviting, Oniyuri spread her gaze beyond the busy street. The mountain is the first thing that her eyes catch on, much like when Hanabi first stepped into Konoha, Oniyuri peaking over her shoulder. The faces fade in and out of focus as they moved across the city, and the omiyage street she's on is far enough that the edges of the eyes blend in with the cheeks.

Next is the Hokage Tower. It's by far the tallest and situated by the first Hokage's face. The gigantic fiery red sign on the top is like a small sun no matter where in the village. Closer, and the fire kanji steps out from the red, it's black ink not as noticeable. The tower is an impressive structure, the base massive and each level progressively shrinking until it's just a small spike, barely taller than the mountain itself. There's a multitude of balconies, windows and ledges littering the surface, making it interestingly unique. Its main colour is creamy white, the windows tinted black.

Every other building followed the creamy white brick structure, brown ceramic tiles topping every building. Apartment blocks rise to about an average of three stories, single-family residential areas all one story. There are a few four and five-story buildings, but other than that, there's nothing to challenge the Hokage Tower's superiority.

Yet despite the obvious psychological tactic, Oniyuri isn't afraid.

She follows a boy and his older sister, seeing the way he's pulling on her arm and she's faithfully following. True to her suspicions, the two of them lead her to a children's park, possibly one of the biggest she's seen. There are _two_ seesaws, _three_ sand pits (all about the size of 8-mat tatami rooms), one gigantic, _three-story_ construction, featuring several slides, funky fireman poles, tunnels and even an attached spiders web. Needless to say, Oniyuri found herself on the third story in five seconds.

When she's done weaving through the children, exploring every story and feature, she turns her sight outwards again. She sees a swing set, which, to her surprise, has an empty seat. The children around her are screaming, shouting about unintelligible topics in whiny voices. _Do they not know that swings are the best thing?_ She thinks to herself as she slips down a slide to the second story, finding a simple straight fireman's pole to slide down to the ground. With a little physical energy in her muscles, she dashes just a touch too fast for a two-year-old and jumps into the swing without a second thought.

It takes her a while to find a rhythm to get going, and she focuses on swinging higher and higher until she can see over the top of the bar. Then, Konoha fades from her mind; she stops thinking about her legs, stops watching the chaos of so many kids before her, and starts to view the world beyond the brown-white rocks that curved around Konoha's central body.

The first thing that sprung to mind was Ajisai. Yesterday, when they were travelling to Konoha, Oniyuri kept an eye on Asagao and her luggage. Travelling wasn't the most riveting pastime, and like Ajisai, Oniyuri passed out several times.

Oniyuri was lucky enough to bag a room next to Ajisai and Asagao, and Hanabi had asked if they wouldn't mind looking after Oniyuri for breakfast as she had a class nearly every morning.

Hanabi had been doing that recently, she mused, I wonder what her class is.

Nevertheless, Oniyuri had bagged a perfect time and excuse to watch Asagao's actions. And from this morning… it was pretty damning.

It wasn't like she was _spoon feeding_ Ajisai, no, it was more subtle. She asked Ajisai how he was. She asked what was his plans for today. When told that he had nothing beyond practising the clan technique, Asagao beamed and verbally produced a schedule for him. There weren't many official classes, most of the activities that Asagao produced could be done between Asagao and Ajisai in their room. When Asagao got up to clear the table, Oniyuri quickly leaned over and lightly touched Ajisai's hand.

 _I get what you mean. You're not delusional_ she said, and it seemed to be the words that he was looking for.

But she couldn't do anything today, and probably couldn't do anything for a while. After she took her leave she left the private hotel the Suiei clan had rented for the wild streets of Konoha. Yesterday evening Hanabi told her that the city was safe enough to allow Oniyuri to wonder the streets by herself. The Suiei clan always had the local ninjas keeping an eye on them, both for village security and for the safety of a major economic source, but for most villages, Kiku always required for under ten-year-olds to be accompanied, under five with adults. It said a lot about Konoha that she allowed Oniyuri to go by herself.

Perhaps that's why she wasn't intimidated by the Hokage Tower; Mizu also utilised an almost identical tactic, but their tower was a black spike rising above the morning fog. Mizu felt like a dystopian world - Konoha felt like a city.

"How do you do that?!"

It took her a second to realise the voice was directed to her, and that it came from the swing beside her. She slowed down her movement, allowing the swing to lose momentum. The boy was slightly older than her, with the brightest blond hair. It, along with his clothes, was scruffy and dirty. Not quite the poverty dirty, but not the basic, 'I was playing in the sandpit' level either.

"I tried to copy your leg thing!" He continued when Oniyuri failed to do anything but stare at him. The boy tried to show his attempts but straight away Oniyuri could see that he was doing it wrong; his legs snapped out too late to do anything but jostle the swing.

"Oh no, you're supposed to bring your legs out as soon as you begin to descend." She brings her legs back into movement, her moment immediately picking back up. The boy hopped to it, determined, and a little bit of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he tried to copy Oniyuri's movement. While he did bring his legs forward slightly earlier than before, it was still too late.

"Here, I'll push you," she slipped off the swing when it slowed down enough for her to jump off safely, planting herself behind the boy's back. When the swing pulled back to meet her hands, she shouted: "Legs forward now!"

It took a few minutes, one more demonstration from Oniyuri, but now the boy was soaring higher and higher, a bright gleeful grin growing wider as his highest position was threatening the support bar's superiority. She smiled at his joy, slightly wondering why a boy his age had no idea how to use swings.

"What's your name?" She called, sliding into the second swing (suspicious that nobody had claimed it while it was vacant… maybe swings weren't popular here?). "I'm Oniyuri, like the flower."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He grinned so wide that his blue eyes vanished. "I don't know what my name is like!"

"A whirlpool perhaps? That would be really cool, it matches your last name. Everyone in my clan is named after something floral."

"That's _wicked!_ I wish I was apart of a clan."

"There's a lot of Uzumakis in Water and Eastern Fire. Maybe there is?"

Naruto's eyes positively _sparkled_.

"You're so cool! And knowledgeable! Have you been outside of Konoha?"

Naruto found the concept of the Suiei clan 'incredibly cool' and their perpetual state of travelling 'amazingly awesome.' It was fun to describe the many cities and towns Oniyuri had been through, and it took so long that the sun was barely peeking over the surrounding forest canopy.

"Ahh," the sun had transformed from the soft afternoon light to a harsher, brighter red ball in the sky - like the sun was forcing its last breath out in one big shout. The two of them still were on the swings, Naruto going strong while Oniyuri had stopped a while back. "Sorry Naruto, but I have to go now. It was nice to meet you, maybe we can meet up tomorrow?"

The scruffy boy grinned, eyes disappearing once more. "I'd LOVE that! Is here ok?" Oniyuri smiled and nodded, waving the bright boy goodbye. He waved with his whole body, she found out, legs finally pausing from swinging to allow Naruto to jostle the swing with how hard he waved.

She made it back to the hotel in time, the sun vanished but the sky a smattering of pink, purple and blue. Hanabi was in their room, calmly reading a medium-sized book with a cup of green tea beside her. In one hand she had a toffee apple, half eaten.

"How was today? You were out for a long time."

"Made a local friend," Oniyuri answered, sifting through her belongings to prepare for a shower. "He seems fun, so I'll be out for the next few days. I'll still attend my classes though."

"Alright then," Hanabi gave Oniyuri a smile "have fun!"

* * *

Naruto was energetic and immensely enjoyed showing Oniyuri around town. He knew Konoha like the back of his hand, despite his age; sometimes a thirty-minute walk could be cut into half because Naruto would show Oniyuri the less crowded, more direct streets. One time they travelled across the entirety of Konoha in a time span which should've been impossible.

There was a decent amount of activities two children could do together. Naruto loved to run around in the empty fields that squatted around the west gate, and they often played tag there. They had convened at the swings they met at and were well on their way to the west gate, Naruto bouncing in excitement.

He was always like that, all limbs in a perpetual state of motion, notifying her for anything novel, chattering about _everything._ Sly comments about shop keepers, mundane tales of him and his chaotic friends, talking about school subjects -

"I don't know why, but all my teachers won't sign my library permission slip." he sighed, apparently reminded as they passed one of the few three-story buildings in Konoha, complete with the standard embellishment for a library. "They yell at me for not being able to do the work, but how can I do it without the books?"

Oniyuri gave it a thought, but probably not focusing on what Naruto was hung up about. Naruto was a stunning age of five - education should be an easy skin-level annoyance. Why was tuition so critical?

"What do you do at school?" she asked. Naruto paused in his riveting discussion why the owner of the omiyage shop they passed three minutes ago definitely deserved to have a cheating wife.

"Oh!" His face, while usually was bright, cracked into a smile so wide and toothy and _full_ of euphoria. "I'm gonna be a NINJA! I'm gonna be SO cool 'n' powerful! I'm gonna be Hokage, the most powerful ninja in the village!" Oniyuri grinned at the outburst. Naruto took great pride in his chosen career and was putting his utmost effort into his studies as a result.

"I too want to be a ninja," she admitted, voice almost a whisper right after his shout "there's something magical about them, right?"

"YEAH!" Naruto was almost vibrating now "Chakra is so cool and that jounin example last week was so cool and Ojiisan is SO COOL AND NINJAS ARE SOOOOOO COOL!"

She was about to let the older boy nutter on about ninjas when a familiar scent entered the passing breeze. Catching Naruto on his sleeve, she leads him over to a small public botanical garden. The grass was luscious, the tree's leaves bordering the edge were an impressionist painting and - most importantly - the flowers were in full bloom.

"Wha-"

"Here, look, it's me." She gingerly brushed her fingers under the curled orange petal, thumb brushing over the black spots reverently.

"Huh?"

"It's a tiger lily." Her foot tapped the plaque, 鬼百合 carved deeply into a white-speckled granite rock. Naruto's hand touched one of the flowers with the utmost care as if the damage done to it would be done on her. The thought made her giggle. "Here, I'll introduce you to the clan. Sunflower is the library boy…"

Once Naruto had a little introduction to all clan members, Oniyuri turned to the next distraction. A smell wafted over to where they were in the garden; it was delicious and oil-flavoured at the same time. Her stomach applauded the combination.

"Want to get something to eat?" She asked Naruto, looking around to try and spot the source.

"That's the food stands over there," his hand waved slightly right of where Oniyuri was facing. His hand rested on his stomach and he winced. "...I dun need to eat though."

She gave Naruto a look - he must be hungry, they had been out together for hours and it was the perfect time for lunch. Maybe he had no money on him?

Oniyuri wandered through the stalls momentarily but didn't linger on choice for long, seeing as Naruto was back in the garden. She bought two anpan buns, the inside of the fluffy white bread filled with red bean paste.

Naruto was back over where the tiger lilies grew, a furious orange under overhanging pastel wisteria. He was staring up at the flowers with wonder.

"Naruto!" She called, holding out the second bun. As soon as his eyes caught on her present, his stomach rumbled with a mighty roar. He took the anpan bread, eyes avoiding Oniyuri's. "You like flowers now?" She teased.

"Yeah, I neva been in a flower garden. It's awesome!" She turned to reach for the lowest branch of the wisteria, inspecting the tiny flowers. Around her, she could hear the buzz of insects happily enjoying life.

The two of them sat underneath the tiger lilies, slowly eating away at the anpan bun as Oniyuri did or annihilating it in Naruto's case, enjoying the shade thrown by the trees lining the garden wall. The blonde didn't seem to mind waiting for Oniyuri to finish, immediately lying back onto the rich grass, hands behind his head.

Like the previous sessions in which Oniyuri was allowed to observe Naruto, her eyes dropped from the tiger lily peeking over the bed edge to the gaunt boy beside her.

 _He's too thin…_ A voice grumbled inside her, hyper-focusing on his thin wrists. _He's almost six, and he's far too thin!_

 _Shut up obaachan_ she snapped back, but one of her fingers hovered over his cheeks. Thin thin thin _too_ thin. The lines on his marks - they looked like tattoos _and_ a smear of dirt - did nothing to hide his lack of baby cheeks.

She needed another opinion. Hanabi could handle another mouth at the table, right?

* * *

"Naruto," she said "I have to drop by my hotel for a moment. Come with me?" Naruto, naive Naruto, followed her without complaint.

Now he was firmly seated beside Oniyuri as Hanabi prepared dinner. She was personally enjoying the warm cup of milk, watching Hanabi swiftly seat Naruto at the table. She calmly parried any excuse he drew upon. The boy finally sank into the pillow opposite Oniyuri with an indescribable face.

"What's for dinner?" She asked, watching Hanabi duck into the kitchen.

"Just rice and some vegetables." just as she disappeared from view, Naruto (lightly) slapped his hands on the table, leaning over the wooden object to shove his face into Oniyuri's.

"I didn't know you had a mum! She wasn't in the garden!"

Oniyuri took a sip of her milk. "Of course not, her name is Hanabi. Fireworks are a little rare in a garden. Do you want anything to drink? We have water and milk."

Naruto sat back into his pillow, crossing his arms. "Water please." He grumbled.

When Oniyuri joined Hanabi in the kitchen, the knife in the older lady's hand paused.

"He's too skinny. _Too_ skinny." Oniyuri murmured, slipping the clay cup under the tap.

"I know starvation, Oniyuri. I think you know of the situation before the French Revolution of the 1700s, no? Well, I didn't get to see that - I had to hear about it from another clan member." Oniyuri set the cup down and went over to hug Hanabi's leg. It was always a little touchy to talk about your past life - some people had a decent life. Just as many didn't. "I know starvation, and that boy is hanging by mere scraps."

"I'll look out for him." She promised, lifting up the cup once more. Naruto was exactly where she left him, leg bouncing furiously as he looked around the room.

"Thank you," he took the cup and threw it back in one swallow. For a second, his skinny, awfully bony wrists extend from the oversized jumper.

God, someone's gotta help this kid.

Oniyuri picked the cup back up and smiled at Naruto.

"Thirsty, huh? I'll get you another cup."

* * *

A/N: just so you know, they are talking in Japanese. So when Oniyuri says sunflower shes actually saying himawari. When she says tiger lily, she's saying oniyuri. It's just so you the reader get to know the translations.


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